


Defenders of the Light

by Brittles_06



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-21
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2019-11-27 06:07:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 25,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18190757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brittles_06/pseuds/Brittles_06
Summary: An ancient enemy has risen in Fiore, one that threatens all light mages, new and old. Who is this new foe and what dangers are ahead? Follow Fairy Tail and Sabertooth as they face new trials as a guild, team, couples, and individuals.





	1. Imperative Mission

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: I do not own Fairy Tail, this amazing work belongs to Hiro Mashima. All other characters I bring into this story will belong to me.
> 
> You will notice I have taken the Pradesh family out of this story and LOTV and I will no longer be writing those characters into my stories from here on out. This is a personal choice and no I am not expressing my reasons why. The outline of the story will stay the same but pairings and characters will change from what had been written. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this version of the story and for those who have continued reading my stories, thank you! You are all so incredibly amazing xoxo

Lucy heard the birds chirping outside her window and pulled a spare pillow over her head to try and quiet the dull roar that was filling her ears. She groaned at the way her head was throbbing, pushing her damp hair off her sweaty neck before she ever so slowly sat upright. The brightness of the natural light had her slamming her eyes shut immediately after she cracked them open. The only bonus was that her stomach wasn't a rumbling mess and she had no need to vomit, a small victory and she'd take it.

To this day she'd never understand why she'd let Cana get under her skin about not drinking copious amounts of alcohol. Lucy knew her limit and very rarely breached it, but apparently, that idea flew out the fucking window at some point and she decided not to listen to her inner self. Lucy wiped the back of her hand across her face where her drool was crusted to the sides of her cheek. She needed water, desperately, the cotton mouth feeling was making her start to gag a little. She stood up a straight, which only lasted about three seconds before she was falling back onto her bed, her legs seemed to have given out. Just what the hell had she done to herself last night?

Lucy went and hopped into the shower, hoping that some of the events from last night would start to filter through her muddled head. She knew that she was in Autumn City with Cana, who was celebrating her twenty-fifth birthday with Juvia. Plus she had finally ended things with Bacchus, after the umpteenth time he cheated on her. The sex was good but no matter how great it was it wasn't worth the mental bull shit Cana was putting herself through.

"Lulu?"

"In the shower Cana!" Cana had been a little upset when several of the other guild members had bailed on her party, but the card mage hadn't let that stop her. Levy was three months pregnant with Gajeel's twins while Erza and Jellal were due within the next six weeks, so drinking and travelling far from home was out of the question. Mira was sticking around Fairy Tail because she wasn't about the miss the birth of the guild's second child, she was still jaded over missing Asuka's birth. Freed wasn't about to leave his bride-to-be alone and the other two male members of the Thunder Legion had taken off to the Sabertooth guild at the request of Co-Master Rogue, and Evergreen had decided to stay home with Elfman to enjoy the quietness.

Natsu, Gray, Lisanna, and Ultear left on a mission near Mount Hakobe, the four of them were the cutest couples ever! Natsu had finally pulled his head out of his ass, with assistance from Gajeel, and had asked Lisanna to be his mate. Gray had found Ultear roaming around a random city, blessed with the time that she had given up to save them all during the Eclipse Gate, a navy blue Fairy Tail symbol adorning her left outer ankle. They were dating quite seriously, Gray had confessed that he planned to propose to her soon and asked Lucy to help pick out a ring. That had been a fun afternoon with Gray, dragging him all across Magnolia to find the perfect ring. Juvia had let go of her childish crush on Gray ages ago, thankfully, and now completed the Fairy Tail Trifecta, as Cana liked to call the three of them.

Lucy was still single, still waiting for some man to come along and rock her world in ever intimate was possible but for now, she was content to help Cana get over her man and assist Juvia in talking with guys that weren't in their guild. She was crushing on someone but had refused, so far, to tell them about but Lucy was patient and wouldn't push the nervous water mage. Lucy stepped out of the warm water, wrapping a towel around her hair and then her body before she went to greet the brunette.

"Well, you don't look too bad Lulu."

"Thanks, but the pounding in my head is telling me otherwise." The two of them chuckled as Juvia walked in with a tray of fruits, meat, and cheese for them to nibble on. "How are neither of you feeling as bad as I am?"

"Experience Lu." Lucy rolled her eyes, internally waiting for the day that someone would drink Cana under so she could be there to take pictures and rub it in her hungover as fuck face the next day.

"Juvia's body is made of water so Juvia stays hydrated all the time while drinking and very rarely gets hang overs."

"I hate you both so much." The giggles from the girls had the corners of her lips turning up.

"What are your plans for the day?"

"Well, Juvia was hoping we could do some more shopping and then . . . oh, wait!" Juvia dug into the pocket of her jacket and handed Lucy a note. "Master Makarov would like you to call him when you're ready."

"Then we'll hit up the malls and buy some kick ass clothes to take home!" Cana smirked while nibbling on a piece of cheese. Lucy opened the note and it said two words Urgent – Makarov, well that was never a good sign when Gramps only left you a two worded message and now pervy syntax with it.

"I'm going to change and then call Gramps from Juvia's suit." Lucy threw on a pair of dark wash jeans and a baby blue t-shirt and went to leave but not before snagging some food and placing it on a small plastic plate for herself. She closed the door to Juvia's room and pushed some magic into the com the three of them were sharing.

"Good morning Lucy. Hopefully, you are doing alright after your adventure in Autumn City."

"As good as can be expected when one drinks against Cana, Gramps." He chuckled at the blonde before his face became grim. "Gramps, what's wrong?"

"I'm sure you are aware that Bickslow and Laxus took off to Sabertooth a couple days ago?" Lucy nodded her head yes so Makarov continued, "There has been an issue at the guild."

"Is everyone ok?" Lucy sat up a little straighter, knowing that this was important.

"Yes and no."

"Gramps, just cut to the chase, please. You obviously want my help with something or you wouldn't have asked me to call in with such a vague note."

"Brilliant as usual my dear. As you might have heard Sting and Yukino have mated."

"Of course. Sting has known Yukino was his mate for years but did nothing about it for what seemed like eons. I believe someone shocked him into getting his ass in gear, quite literally. They were supposed to have twins about a month ago if I remember correctly." Makarov gave her a surprised look and blinked several times. "Yuki and I are the last few celestial mages left on Ishgar, we're friends and share pretty much everything with one another. I am sure Sting is well aware of this fact and if he's not, then he'll be in for a rude awakening when I come to visit next."

"There was an incident several days ago which is the real reason Laxus and Bickslow left to go to the guild. Rogue called me panicking."

"What happened to Yuki and Sting?" Lucy was holding her breath as she waited for the bomb to drop.

"The twins were stolen." Lucy instantly deflated, tears rushing to her eyes as she thought of all the hurt her friends and the Sabertooth guild must be going through. "There was an attack at the guild, which ended up being a distraction to get to the month old twin boys when Yukino was being secretly taken from the guild to Rogue's house. They were intercepted while travelling and Yukino and her envoy, were tossed from the vehicle. The others had been able to catch themselves decently enough, but Yukino wasn't so lucky. She's currently in a coma and Sting is giving her magic to help sustain her, even Porlyusica can't help with this."

"Dragon slaying magic is just as coveted as celestial magic, why weren't more people made aware of this? I would have sent spirits there to help protect them, bring them to the celestial world in case of an attack."

"They didn't want more people knowing than necessary, even now the only ones that know are the Sting's team, myself, Laxus, Bickslow, Wendy, and now you."

"What do you want me to do Gramps?"

"I need you to find the children." Now it was Lucy's turn to gawk at the Master of Fairy Tail, her mind slowly wrapping her head around what he had just said. "You have always been an amazing mage, Lucy, and now I need you because you are the only option I have."

"Sting and the others don't know you've asked this of me, do they?"

"No, and they can't know. I suspect they have a mole amongst them, after all, how else would one know when and where Yukino and the twins would be sent off too."

"Makes sense. With Sting and Porlyusica working to keep Yukino stable there isn't anyone else who can sense their magic. Their magic signatures would be small since they are only two months old and probably weakening by the day since they aren't gathering magic from their parents to help them through the first six months to a year. They'd all keep their levels equal as their bodies grew into the amazing magic that they have."

"Exactly! For whatever reason Sting cannot locate his children, he's being blocked in some capacity."

"You need to send Cana and Juvia to Sabertooth, they're going to need more level headed and third party mages to help them see clearly, if needed, and defend against attacks. Are there any leads?"

"Rogue was able to partially track them with his shadows, stated that the magic felt dark and twisted as if it had once belonged to someone and had been reborn. He couldn't trace it once the mage lost Yukino but they wouldn't be able to go far with the babes."

"I'll tell the girls to pack up that we have missions to go but I will not tell them about mine. We'll depart within the hour and I am having Auri take them to the Sabertooth so please give Laxus a heads up."

"Of course Lucy. Be safe and keep in touch with me as often as you are able too."

"Promise Gramps." He smiled at her before the com went dark and Lucy was calling Crux and Loke out. "Grandpa Crux can you please research any and all information on . . . children of light, I guess. Not sure what else you could classify Sting and Yukino's children. Anything at all would be useful." The cross went into a meditative state to start going through all libraries in Ishgar and the celestial world.

"Princess, the Celestial King has suggested sending the hunting dogs out as they will be able to track any and all scents linked to our similar magics." Lucy watched at the leader of the Zodiac shuffled his weight from foot to foot.

"What else aren't you telling me, Loke?"

"The Spirit King says you will need to find the first of the six Celestial Warrior Keys in order to safely retrieve the twin Celestial light babies."

"The what?"

"Warrior Keys. These are keys of old that haven't been contracted in over five hundred years because they are meant to fight in great battles."

"So what you're saying is that Zeref and fucking Acnologia weren't great battles!"

"They were incredibly difficult, Princess, but not the kind that could consume the whole of Ishgar in darkness. With Zeref and Acnologia they just wanted to annihilate specific certain aspects of humanity or dragon kind. This enemy wants the world to fall into utter darkness, no life would survive and the planet itself would combust."

"Is there a lead on this darkness?" Loke looked away from her, which meant that he had a gag order from the Spirit King himself saying that he couldn't interfere with this part. Well, not yet at least. Lucy always liked puzzles and this one was going to prove to be a huge pain in the ass, she was quite sure. "Which Warrior key do I need to find first?"

"Orion." Lucy nodded her head as Loke went back to the celestial world.

"Open, Gate of Hunting Dogs, Cannes Venatici," two Husky like dogs appeared on either side of the blonde woman, anxiously awaiting their orders. "Top priorities are to find Orion's key and find a trail as to where two light magic babies are being held captive from their parents." Haunting growls filled the small room as the two dogs bristled in anger. "I know boys, but we need a level head for this one, please. You can maim until your heart's content when we find the ass holes that took them twin boys. For now, you need to blend in with whatever other canines are in your vicinity." Lucy opened the window in Juvia's room and they each leapt out to do their keyholders bidding.

"Lulu, is everything alright in there?" Lucy swung the door open, her face utterly serious as the girls walked over to her. "What do we need to do Lucy?"

"You two are going to be heading to Sabertooth to help Laxus and Bickslow out. There is a bit of a high priority issue and Makarov wants some third party mages there to help. You'll be taking Auriga there shortly and Virgo will pack up our belongings and get them to you when you arrive there."

"Where will Lucy be going? Juvia wants to know that her friend will be alright."

"Another request came in this morning asking specifically for a celestial mage. Something about a rare artifact that needs to look at and transported immediately. I'll catch up with you two in a couple days." Juvia and Cana gave each other a knowing look before they hugged the blonde woman. "Open, gate of the golden charioteer, Auriga. Open, gate of the maiden, Virgo."

"Princess," the roman looking man dropped to one knee awaiting her instructions. The Spirit King had informed all of Lucy and Yukino's spirits what had happened and each were ready and willing to help in any way possible. Virgo was already busy packing the women's belongings, sensing what her Princess wanted her to do from the bond she shared with the Zodiac keys.

"Please take Juvia and Cana to the Sabertooth guild. You will all need to be on guard since they were just attacked a couple days ago and will not likely let anyone in unless Rogue or Sting have agreed to it."

"Lucy, I need you to hold these cards and state your intentions in what you are looking for." Lucy smiled at the brunette, always one step ahead of the game with her semi-physic abilities, nevertheless, Lucy did as she asked. Juvia was pinning a map of Ishgar on the wall as the cards started to glow, one single card flew from the deck, implanting itself into the wall.

"Lucy will find what she's looking for in Foresta di Grano Blu . . . Blue Grain Forest. Juvia hopes Lucy will be safe and come to Sabertooth as quickly as she can." Juvia hopped onto the chariot followed by Cana as they left in a brilliant show of gold and red sparks.

"Princess, I am just finishing up then we can travel to where the dogs think they've found Orion's key." Lucy nodded her head to her spirit but inside she was utterly terrified. What kind of monsters would steal babies from their parents? She prayed to Mavis that she would make it in time to save the babies, to save her friend and the friends she was sure she was going to meet. With a deep inhale she left her hotel room, following Virgo as they made their way through the city to the mountain range.

"If I'm going to be doing some climbing I better change, right Virgo?" The maiden spirit smiled as she left to get Lucy some appropriate clothing. She could sense the hunting dogs a fair way up the mountain and that Auriga had just returned back after dropping the girls off. Virgo would be back soon and then the trek would begin.

* * *

Porlyusica went to check in on her patient, Sting was sitting next to his mate holding her hand. It was almost unreal to think about what had happened to this family three short days ago, the family was mourning and so was the guild. Porlyusica had sent a message to Makarov, hoping he could help or have some kind of insight, even though Rogue had contacted him already. She wasn't sure what kind of information had been passed to the short man but she had given him a full rundown of what she was aware of. Three days had passed and they were no closer to finding the month old twins boys and it was eating away at his heart.

Elian and Torin were the first children to grace Sabertooth and they were precious, as all children were. Yukino and Sting had asked her to help with the delivery of their children, since no one was sure what to expect with the first dragon slayer babies to be born. The birth had proceeded rapidly once Yukino's water broke, both children were born naturally with ah healthy set of lungs on them. Elian had light blue eyes with a tuft of white blonde hair on the top of his head while his younger brother, Torin, had warm brown eyes and a whole head full of sky blue hair. The new family had spent three days alone, bonding with one another while figuring out what it takes to be parents.

That was all before the attack happened, leaving grieving mages to try to pick up the pieces. She had stuck around to ensure everything was going well, plus she was cataloguing everything she could about the delivery and first couple months with the twins being born, with the Eucliffe's permission. This would be invaluable for her since Gajeel and Levy were expecting twins, she was also meeting with Levy every two weeks to talk with the woman about her pregnancy. With four dragon slayers in Fairy Tail it would be pertinent for Porlyusica to be well versed in dragon slayer pregnancies, deliveries and the first several months of life.

She was most thankful that she had called Wendy to the guild four days ago. The sky dragon slayer had arrived the night before the attack, thankfully wasn't hurt, and was able to lend a hand to those who had been injured. Unfortunately there had been three deaths, mages who were right next to the explosion when it occurred. Wendy had grown so much in the last several months after Bickslow had taken the young girl under his wing. With her ability to use the wind she was a perfect fit for acrobatics and gymnastics and once Laxus heard what his teammate was doing with his younger sister he decided to work with her too. He was helping her develop her hand-to-hand combat skills as well as other ways to use her magic. It was quite remarkable how far she'd come in such a short time.

"We'll find them, we have too," Wendy's quiet voice echoed in the room. "In the meantime, you need to eat something and keep your strength up for whatever may come next." Wendy gently tugged on Sting's free hand as Rufus walked into the room.

"I'd like to read to her while you are getting nourishment. We were just getting to Alice's meeting of the March Hare." He picked up a copy of Alice in Wonderland, turning to the fourth chapter as he began to read out loud. Wendy and Sting entered the kitchen where the rest of their family was gathered, Bickslow hucked a sweet roll at Laxus' head, laughing when he ducked and hit Minerva square in the forehead. The two newcomers cracked a smile at the crazy antics.

"Any update?" Minerva asked them as she placed cheese and meat onto her bun.

"She's still in a coma. Any news from your end?" Sting asked as he sat next to Rogue and grabbing food for his plate.

"Nothing yet. We have several mages from the guild scouting all corners of Fiore." Rogue answered as he swatted Orga's hands away from the chocolate chip cookies that were on his plate.

"Gramps is sending a couple of mages from Fairy Tail to help us out. I am hoping we can use Cana's card magic to pinpoint a location since she's able to get readings and such from her cards." Laxus took a bite of a lemon square that was sitting out. "Also said that Juvia was coming with her, so having another powerful water mage here would be beneficial. Granted I got the feeling he was hiding something from me, crazy old coot."

"Rufus is with Yukino right now, so how about we head into town after lunch to see how things are? I'd like to pick up groceries for the guild plus Porlyusica has given me a list of things she needs," Minerva suggested to the table, who agreed and ate in silence.

The group headed off to the town square, curious about the excited chatting that was going on. They all took off eager to get the commotion settled and fight if necessary but in the middle of the square was a large golden chariot with a Roman man standing at the front, female giggles could be heard from somewhere. Cana was the first to stand up, holding onto the side of the chariot as she got her legs to stop wobbling.

"I think this is the closest thing to being magically drunk I have ever experienced," she giggled, purple eyes glowing brightly. "Juvia you should get up here. I think Lulu's spirit took us to my wildest fantasy instead of Sabertooth, you should see all these fine looking men." Juvia's blue head popped up over the edge, her eyes seemed luminescent as they took everything in.

"Juvia feels like she's . . . bubbling. Juvia hopes that Auriga delivered us to Sabertooth."

"Rest assured ladies, we are in the heart of heart of the city that houses the Sabertooth guild," Auri's smooth voice caressed the two women as he helped them off his chariot. "The lightning dragon slayer is over there, so I will take my leave." He waved goodbye as gold dust sprinkled the floor from his departure.

"That was a crazy rush." Cana looked around the training grounds, very much liking her surroundings. "Hey, Bixy!"

"Hey lush, what the hell are you doing here?" Bickslow walked up, giving both women warm hugs.

"Oh you know, Gramps told Lucy something and then she told us we were needed here to help with protection or some bull shit. Not sure how much more protection is needed here." Sabertooth had grown quite a bit since Sting had taken over the Guild, then assigning Rogue as co-master when he found out Yukino was pregnant which was a smart move. She knew the mages that were in front of her, but she was interested in meeting some of the new blood the guild had inducted.

"We are just heading to get some groceries before heading back to the guild. Maybe you'd like to join me at the poolside once I have put them away? Would hate to miss out on this glorious sunshine," Minerva smiled at the two woman.

"I'm game!" Cana smile as she stood next to Minerva. "Sunshine, warm waters, and half-naked men . . . where do I sign up?" Bickslow and Minerva laughed while Laxus shook his head. "Food and then the beach!"

* * *

Lucy was making her way painfully slow up the side of the mountain, really wishing she had a spirit that could fly right now. Maybe one day she'd be lucky enough to find Pegasus while out on missions, but for now, she'd have to suck it the fuck up and push through. She had Aries on standby in case she happened to slip and fall, hoping a massive bed of pink wool would cushion her fall. The rocks were jagged and loose, so she had to be extra careful with every hand and foot placement. There were no ropes, pulleys, and cute men to help her up and down the climbing walls that her and Cana frequently visited. Hell, she didn't even have a helmet! She knew she'd be incredibly sore after this was all said and done too, using muscles she hadn't in a while and the sheer tenseness she was feeling overall. Bloody fucking spirits whose keys are somewhere on the side of a mountain! A bloody fucking mountain. Lucy ranted as she continued upward, slipping a couple of times and knocking the air from her lungs.

She heard the hunting dogs making a shit tonne of ruckus not far from where she was and she prayed to Mavis that it was excitement over finding the key. Fuck my life. Lucy peered over the edge to find a poisonous Vulcan growling back at her spirits, guarding what looked like a hoard of gold. Lucy called Aries out, asking her to wrap the Vulcan in her wool hoping to calm the irritated creature. Within seconds the beast was covered from head to toe in lovely pink wool, which caused Lucy to giggle slightly. She hauled herself up over the ledge, laying on her back for several long moments as her body started to turn to turn to jelly. The sun was just starting to set, so it had to be close to eight, which meant she'd be camping here for the night. Lucy stood up, groaning as her muscles started to tighten from her brief rest. The Vulcan began to growl loudly so Lucy called Taurus out to take care of it so she could start going through the pile of gold that was behind it. Virgo came out and started setting up camp, creating a fire and starting what smelled like stew. The smell was enough to have Lucy's stomach growling in protest at not being fed since she'd left the inn that morning.

"Thanks for your help everyone," Lucy smiled at her spirits as they are returned back to the spirit world. The dogs dropped something quite heavy in her hand, rubbed their wet noses on her cheek as she giggled before turning home as well, leaving just Virgo out. Looking in her hand she saw a bronze key, the same size as her other gate keys. The handle of the key looked like a round shield with Orion's constellation in gold shining in the setting sun, the stem was bronze, flat like a sword with a gold collar before pin and bit turned into an arrowhead. It was breathtaking. Lucy could feel the hum of magic in her fingertips as she held onto the handle, listening for the words to call the spirit out. The incantation was different than her silver and gold keys, that much she was well aware of.

"Open, gate of the warrior huntsman, Orion!" A bronze celestial gate opened, stepping out of it was the tallest man Lucy had ever seen. He easily towered over Bickslow who was an easy six foot seven. The spirit blinked several times before taking in the ledge of the mountain Lucy was currently residing on. His hair was blonde, shaggy, and all over the place, his beard fell to the middle of his chest, and he looked like he stepped out of one of her Roman textbooks from the konzern. He reminded her a bit of Auriga, in the fact that he was dressed in ancient Roman warrior clothing. He bowed to Lucy, extending a hand out as he did so. Lucy tentatively placed her hand in his rather large one, a golden glow emitting from the contact so bright Lucy had to turn her head away.

When she opened her eyes again there stood what looked like a brand new man. His unruly blonde hair was now short along the sides, longer on top and styled so that it fell to one side. His beard was neatly groomed, accentuating his square jaw and pouty lips with beautiful sky blue eyes. He wore a hunter green, hooded leather vest with a skin-tight black shirt beneath it, clad in dark wash blue jeans and black combat boots. She'd seen her spirits change clothes before, but never anything quite this . . . drastic.

"Hello, Orion. My name is Lucy Heartfilia and I was hoping you'd make a contract with me."

"Hoping?" the spirit raised an eyebrow at the blonde woman.

"Yes. My spirits are my greatest companions, who I love deeply and cherish above all else. They are family to me and as such, they deserve the right to choose who they would like to create a contract with." This wasn't the first spirit she'd met that was hesitant about joining her family, but she knew to be patient and answer all the questions they may have.

"I haven't been contracted in over five hundred years, what makes you so special that I shouldn't relieve your head from your shoulders and take my key from you?" His deep, gravelly voice made her feel very heavy all of a sudden, her heart hurt knowing that he had probably been around when war and famine was a regular part of life. Lucy wasn't quite sure how to proceed, she'd never met a spirit that had threatened her life before. Her keys glowed at her hip as Taurus and Gemini stepped through their gates, standing protectively in front of their keyholder.

"That is enough, Orion." Lucy had never heard Taurus sound so firm before, usually he was all smiles and hitting on every female within the same vicinity as her.

"You will not hurt our Princess." "She has made us whole where others have not." Again Lucy was surprised, the twins barely said anything when in their original forms, preferring to talk while imitating others.

"You are part of this weaklings collection, are you? I will not willingly hand over my key to be tortured for however long she manages to stay alive." Lucy pushed her way between her two spirits, flashing them a smile before she stood directly in front of the huntsman. Before he could blink she had slapped him across the face, thanks to Gemi lifting her up when she had communicated to the spirit as she walked past them.

"How dare you! I summon you to this plane, extend a hand of friendship, and you have the nerve to call me weak!" Lucy was angry, she had been called weak her entire life. Up until after Tartaros when she realized just how strong she truly was. "I am the holder of ten of the twelve Zodiac keys, the first mage in centuries to summon the Spirit King not once, but twice to my world and am the ONLY celestial mage who has the ability to use star dress. So before you judge me because I have tits you better get your head out of your ass and stop being rude!" Lucy was expecting the spirit to attack her, not stand there and laugh so deeply at her.

"The Spirit King has chosen well," he smiled at the blonde, resting on one knee placing both her hands in his large ones. "I, Orion the warrior huntsman, pledge my key to you, Lucy Heartfilia, to use however you deem fit."

"I, Lucy Heartfilia, accept your contract." Lucy felt the bond form as the key flashed out of her hand and onto her key ring. "When are you available and what magic do you possess?"

"I am the best huntsman this world or the celestial has to offer, coupled with the fact that you have my faithful companions, Canes Venatici we will be unstoppable in finding anything you are searching for. I am also quite skilled in battle and channel my powers through my sword and shield. I am available anytime you need my services. My magical drain will not be great after I have been summoned, I cannot speak for some of my fellow warrior keymates though."

"Thank you, Orion. I will call on you tomorrow to start our search for two missing light mage twins. The month old boys are the children of one of my best friends who were taken three days ago. I am sure that the others will fill you in when you return home."

"Thank you, Princess. Just so you are aware not all of the Warrior Keys will be as easy to win over as I have been. If you are lucky enough to find any other Warrior Keys throughout your life know that they may not be as easy to contract as me. You may be tested, pushed to your limits, as the key decided if they want to contract with you." Orion left in a flash of bronze as Lucy turned to Taurus and Gemini, waiting on an explanation as to why they came out of their own gates.

"Don't be mad Miss Lucy. Orion's constellation has always been close to us in the night sky, so we knew that once he saw us that he'd be a little more trusting. How about a smooooch for our help?" Lucy rolled her eyes but kissed each of her spirits on the cheek in thanks before they returned.

"Princess," Virgo called by the fire that was still glowing. "Please come eat, Princess, and then get some sleep as I am sure tomorrow will be a busy day for you."

"Mhm, thank Virgo." Lucy could argue with what the maid spirit was talking about. Hopefully, she'd be prepared for whatever she was about to face tomorrow. She quickly finished her stew and snuggled into her sleeping bag, sleep claiming her instantly. Virgo looked at the blonde, a small smile forming on her pale lips before she too turned in for the night. Her family was all sitting around the viewing pool as they watched their Princess peacefully sleep under the starry night.


	2. Chapter 2: Recovery

Lucy woke to the sun hitting her face, groaning as she rolled over pulling the sleeping bag over her head to block out the light. Mornings were never her strong point in the day, she much preferred sleeping until noon and watching stars until the wee hours. She knew she had to get up though, there were people counting on her to pull through, well, only Gramps really right now. She sat up, still cocooned in her sleeping bag, groaning as her body protested against the movement. She was extremely still from all her climbing yesterday but hopefully, Virgo would bring her the strawberry elixir she made to recoup her magic and make her body feel better than it currently was. She unzipped the baby blue bag, shivering as the cool morning air hit her skin. Lucy rolled her shoulders then stretched her arms and legs, feeling things pop into place as she did so.

"Good morning, Princess. I trust you slept well?" Virgo asked holding out a pale pink bottle and a granola bar.

"I always sleep well under the stars. Thanks for breakfast and the pick-me-up, Virgo!" The maiden began to clean up camp as Lucy changed into fresh clothes. Light jean shorts and a hunter green racerback tank top with her tan hiking boots. Lucy called Auriga out to take her down the mountain, she didn't have a day to waste trying to do it herself and it'd take less than ten seconds with Auriga's help. Once on the grassy ground, she called Orion and Canes Venatici out, both were well aware of what they were searching for.

"Head east, Princess. I can feel the thrum of light magic in that direction. Once we have their location then Aro and Ace will return to your side to guide you to my location. I will scope everything out so that we have a tangible plan of attack heading into the lair of the enemy." Lucy watched the three take off, running faster than she'd ever seen one of her spirits move before. If she had to guess it probably had to do with the urgency of this mission since the twins had now been away from their parents for four days, every hour could mean life or death. Which also made her confused. Why would anyone take month old babies when their powers needed to be stabilized by the parents for the first six months. The parents two magics were so incredibly rare that Lucy wondered what she could possibly be missing about their abduction. They were obviously still alive, otherwise, she would have heard the awful news from Gramps by now. Her hip hummed as she looked down to see her com vibrating.

"Hey, Gramps."

"Lucy my dear girl. I hope everything is going well?"

"I found a new key that is helping me find the twins. We've only been out and about for an hour or so, but I'll check in when I find something concrete. How's everyone at Sabertooth?"

"They're hopes have risen slightly after Cana and Juvia arrived yesterday."

"Don't worry Gramps, I'll make sure they get back home safe and sound!"

"Thank you, Lucy, and may Mavis watch over you." The com went dark as Lucy placed it back on her hip. Her hand rested on Pyxis' key ensuring she was still going east, happy that she was at least heading in the correct direction. The trees and shrubs became thicker the longer she walked, the sun filtered through the branches giving a little bit of natural light. If she was being honest this forest was giving her goosebumps along her arms, an unnatural power settling over that made her stomach roll. Lucy was beginning to wonder if the capture of the twins wasn't related to the ominous darkness that her spirits were whispering about.

"Miss Lucy," Crux appeared beside her, floating as she continued to make her way through the forest. "I have come across an . . . interesting tale while researching light magic. Most of what I have come across you have already read or Miss Yukino has supplied it to you first hand from her encounters with her mate."

"Please proceed, Grandpa Crux."

"There is a tale of a guild, to whose name I was unable to find, that worships the stars. They embarked upon a campaign of conquest in the name of the stars they worshipped, whipping out anyone who had anything to do with the light of the stars, moon, or heavens. They had several lines of celestial users that somehow twisted the way celestial magic was supposed to be used, however, I was not able to find out more about this. This guild has been quiet for centuries, waiting for when light children would make their way back to Ishgar after they disappeared. I am sorry I don't have more, Princess."

"Don't apologize Crux! This is more than I had hoped you'd find so thank you for your hard work on finding it!" She gave the old spirit a kiss on the cheek as she continued on her path east. Well now that Lucy had a small tidbit of information she'd be able to throw herself into researching it thoroughly, maybe she'd be able to get Princess Hisui to help her. The princess had major pull and if there was any country that would have the information it would be the Stellarium in Stella. A coveted library housing all tales of celestial and heavenly magics known. Her brief encounter in the country, rescuing the Dragon Cry, had earned her a place in their Celestial Hall, being the first Heartfilia to set foot inside.

"Princess?" Lucy looked to the side to see Aro and Ace a few feet in front of her. She always forgot how large their real forms were since they usually stayed the size of a husky when around her. Seeing them sitting there, they were easily eye level with her favorite seith mage. Thinking of him had her heart reaching out, wishing she could be at the guild to see Yukino and Sting but she had a mission to accomplish first.

"Climb onto one of us please Princess. Orion has found the house that is hidden deep within these woods where the babes are." Lucy climbed onto Aro's back, holding on the fur of his neck as he took off at top speeds. Princess, we have arrived. Lucy slid off the spirits back, landing on the mossy forest floor. The house in front of her looked like it could fit two Fairy Tail guilds within its walls, plus she had no idea if there were floors beneath the ground. How the hell was she supposed to find the twins inside of that on her own? She'd been using Orion and Canes Venatici all morning, her magic levels had dipped slightly meaning she must have been close to opening her third origin after contracting Orion the previous night. She was going to have to pull out several spirits in order to pull this off on her own. Maybe she should have insisted Cana and Juvia join her, at least she'd feel a bit more secure with how things were looking.

"Princess," Orion addressed her as he walked towards her. "The babes are on the second floor with one mage in the room with them. There are a dozen patrolling the perimeter of the house and at least another dozen inside. Their magic signatures are . . . strange. I haven't felt anything like this in a very long time and I can't quite place my finger on it."

"I am hoping you have a plan? Because I don't have one to cover all of that, just one for the escape route." Lucy explained what her plan and what she expected to happen with everything she had heard this far from Master Makarov. Orion agreed that it was a good idea, filling her in on how they get into the building. His plan was good but was going to put a huge strain on her magic reserves calling out so many spirits in such a short span of time. It had to be done, the twins were counting on her and so was the whole of Sabertooth, even if they didn't know it yet. Lucy called Plue out, instructing him on his very important mission and how when she pushed her magic into his key he needed to head out, ASAP. The small white spirit saluted Lucy and headed back to wait for her call.

"Are you ready to proceed, Princess?" Orion asked, lips pressed into a thin line as he prepared for the battle to begin. Lucy nodded her head as she called out Leo, Capricorn, Sagittarius, and Gemini. She felt the pull of her magic already, having five gates currently open.

"Sagittarius will provide cover for Orion as he sweeps the perimeter. Loke and Capricorn will be taking the first floor before heading up and Gemini will turn into the most recent dragon slayers they have on hand. I'll teleport with Auriga's magic to where I feel the twins at before Taurus joins the fight," Lucy took a deep breath before continuing, "I love you all, thank you for helping me and please be safe." The group split up as Lucy surrounded herself in golden light and let Auriga's magic teleport her to the closest light magic signatures.

The second she landed she was dodging ice spears and vines covered in thorns, she wasn't quite fast enough as they tore through the ivory skin of her legs. She hissed in pain as she rolled to the side, Gemini Natsu and Wendy came hurtling in through the side of the building. The heat of the flames melted the ice and gale winds chopped the vines into small pieces. She knew that Gemini wasn't using the slayer's full magic abilities due to the fact that she hadn't needed to copy her friends in months, but it was still impressive nonetheless. Lucy looked towards the stairs, feeling the hum of similar magic to her own in that direction, figuring they must have moved the twins when Orion and Sagittarius entered the scene and the battle broke out. Lucy charged up the stairs, ignoring the stabbing pain in her legs as she pushed forward, calling Taurus into the mix who blew the door apart as they entered the room.

"What right does one of the light have to interfere with the Empire of Inca's plans?" a dark-skinned man wearing all black glared at her with vibrant orange eyes. His voice was cold yet smooth, sending shivers down her spine.

"What right do you have to steal infants?" Lucy balled her fists at her side trying to tamp down her anger as she listened to the scared wails of the twin boys.

"These two will be our salvation, bringing us back to the dark ages, the likes that haven't been seen in hundreds of years. No puny light mage is going to be able to stop us, not with these light children on our side this time around." Lucy watched as magic gathered in his hands, gasping as the realization hit her.

"You're . . . you're a dark heavenly body mage," the feel of his magic was identical to Jellal's, just darker, more twisted in nature. It almost made her want to vomit from how vile it felt against her own light magic.

"Guess there's more under the head of blonde hair than expected," he raised his hands over his head, palms facing her. "Too bad you won't be alive to tell anyone of my awesome magic or bear witness as we cover the world in darkness, the likes of which haven't been witnessed in a millennium." Lucy had no idea what to do or how to defend herself since she had never had to fight against Jellal or even see him in action since they were never in the same vicinity as one another. "Dark Pleiades!" Six dark rays of light gathered above her head, the first one she didn't even see as it pierced her left thigh. SCUTUM! Lucy grabbed all of her keys as she called the spirit to her, barely dodging the second ray before a golden shield encompassed her entire form.

She felt Sagittarius and Gemini return to the celestial world as Leo joined Taurus against the mystery man. Capricorn and Orion were holding their own on the second floor, keeping all of the lackies from making their way up to the third floor. Plue! I need you to go now, please! Aries, grab the twins and bring them to me. She felt Plue's gate open as she watched Aries form appear by the bassinet, scooping up the boys before she flashed away and appeared to her shortly afterward. Aries had the boys wrapped in pink wool as she placed them in her arms and left her key holder under Scutum's protective barrier. Keeping Scutum out wasn't something she had planned and was running short on magic.

"What do you think a stupid, weak, little girl like you will be able to do?" the man yelled as he deflected one of Loke's Regulus Impact punches. "You might as well join our cause and live instead of fighting against our guild and losing. Our master would welcome one like you with open arms." Lucy grit her teeth as she stood, eyes defiant the entire time. "You won't even be able to walk out of here in the state you're in!" Plue, please hurry!

The small spirit heard its Princess' call and with an extra burst of speed flashed to its destination. The small white spirit found itself in the middle of what looked like a training session as magics were clashing around him. He started yelling, hoping someone here would be able to hear him and more importantly understand him. He ran off to the side screaming but no one seemed to even notice him. Frustrated he started to glow golden, pulsing his small magic in desperation.

"Easy their little guy," a tall man with red eyes said as he patted its head, eyes glowing as his powers flared accepting the tiny creature into his own hold of understanding. "I'm a translator mage, while I have never encountered anything like you, I will be able to help you. Just give me a minute for my magic to sync up with yours."

"Pun, pun. Punnnn pun pun."

"You're looking for Laxus for an urgent matter? Well, he's in Master Rogue's office. Come, I will take you to him." Plue jumped into the large man's arms as he raced to Rogue's office. He opened the door once he reached their destination, watching the white creature as he fell out of his arms and scrambled onto Rogue's desk.

"Plue? What the hell are you doing here? Where's Lucy?" Laxus' wide eyes asked the spirit, knowing quite well who he was. He had the gull to kick him in the shins after he had called Blondie dumb one time ages ago. They had become fast friends after that and Laxus had a stash of suckers in his office for the sugar craving spirit.

"Pun pun. Pun pun pun, punnn, pun pu pun pu puu puun." Laxus was only catching every other word as the spirit spoke with a speed he'd never seen before. He looked at Rogue who had no idea what was going on.

"He says that Lucy is on her way to Sabertooth, to the only place she actually knows which is . . . the dining hall" the tall man continued to translated slightly confused at what was going on.

"Pun pun punnn puuun pun pun puuun."

"She's bringing a precious package with her along with some bad guys who have hurt the Princess."

"Fuck! Rogue, you better warn your guild and get some mages over there. People who chase Blondie are never the weak and frail kind." Rogue nodded, letting Rufus know of the development and tasked him with getting mages to the return that were in the cities limits ensuring that Cana and Juvia were among them.

"Thank you for your help Garrin. Any idea how long until she arrives?" Rogue asked the white-haired, dark skinned, baby blue-eyed man who was listening to Plue as he continued to speak.

"Pun pun." "Fifteen minutes or less."

"What kind of condition is Blondie in?" the scowl on Laxus' face normally would have had Plue shaking but he knew that he was worried too.

"Puuun pun. Pun pun puun punn." "He doesn't know. His task was to wait for Princess' call and get to you as fast as he could." Laxus patted the spirit on the head, a small grin on his face, his way of thanking the spirit.

"Pun punn puun pu pun." "He says he needs to go back to signal you're ready." Plue was gone in a small golden shower of light as the three men were left staring at one another before Laxus teleported them to the dining hall to await whatever shit storm Lucy was bringing to them.

Plue's key warmed on Lucy's hip letting her know his task was completed. Lucy grabbed all of her keys signaling it was time for them to get the hell out of there. Virgo came out to triple team the dark mage with Leo and Taurus, Capricorn and Orion headed back to the celestial world, and Lucy called Auriga out. She hastily jumped into his chariot as they disappeared through his gate, but not before she heard the man yelling at someone to follow her.

"Auriga, do you feel that?"

"Yes, Princess. A mage with impressive tracking skills is pursuing your magic signature and will likely impact us as we enter your plane again." Lucy nodded her head, holding the twins closer, biting the inside of her cheek as her leg throbbed in pain. So much for getting out of there scott free, at least my clothes are all intact still. She snorted at her own thoughts. "Less than ten seconds."

"Ready!" Lucy braced herself as the gate opened and they came soaring above the familiar building she had been too a couple of times. She looked down as she saw Laxus, Cana, Juvia, and several other people yelling at her. She looked behind her to see a dark cloud coming through the remainder of her gate, instantly dropped Auriga's key as she plummeted to the ground. She felt herself jerk upward as a man with the blackest bat-like wings she'd ever seen was holding her, eyes wide as he looked at what she was holding in her arms. When they landed Lucy placed the bundles in what she was hoping was Sting's arms, before shoving him into Laxus as the cloud from earlier body checked her as she sailed through the air into a wall. Lucy groaned as she managed to sit upright, back against the cool stone of the wall, trying to regain the air that was quite literally knocked from her.

Lucy watched as mages jumped into action, fighting the human forms of the dark clouds that were suddenly materializing all around. Lucy checked her magic reserves, they were low but not enough so for her not to help. Lucy summoned Orion and Leo to the fold, ignoring their pleas to help her as she sent them to help the others. Lucy knew she needed to keep calm and not let her spirits know that there was currently a dagger lodged into her left side from when the dark mages had slammed into her. Black dots were starting to swim across her vision but she refused to pass out, that's when she felt cool waters flowing over her body. She turned her head to the head and met Wendy's chocolate brown eyes that were laced with worry.

"You'll be alright. I can't get everything right now but when things have slowed down I will." Lucy just smiled and waited a few more seconds before the bluenette helped her to stand. They both turned their heads as Sting yelled when several shadows stole the twins from his arms, the rest of the mages fleeing shortly afterward. Sting fell to his knees, tears falling down his cheeks as he whispered about how he was a failure.

"Sprite?"

"Orga, I need you to take me to Yukino," she tried to smile but her entire body ached as Laxus scooped her up. "Bring her mate, please?" Lucy asked Minerva who was crying behind her. "It's important, I promise." Orga made it to the infirmary in record time, eyes flashing several times before he pulled a chair up beside Yukino and placed Lucy in the chair. Lucy grabbed the white-haired mage's hand in her own, pushing her magic into her. One by one Sting and his team members entered the room, there wasn't a single dry eye in the room except for Lucy and Orga.

"Ohhh," Yukino mumbled as her eyes started to twitch before opening, blinking several times.

"Yuki!" Her mate rushed to her free side, holding her hand in theirs as he placed several kisses to the back of it.

"I'm sorry for worrying you like that. The loss of our boys sent me into a dark place, I didn't mean to leave you alone." He calm voice and tired smile was music to their ears as hugs between the family were shared. "Lucy, I don't know how to repay you." Lucy just smiled, resting her hands in her lap trying to hide how bad they were shaking.

"I'm sorry Yukino, but I lost the twins. Lucy brought them back to us and several shadows overwhelmed me and took them back." Yukino's eyes filled with tears but she refused to let them fall.

"Then we'll get them back, together!" The firmness and confidence in her voice left very little room for argument.

"I hate to intrude, but . . . those weren't the twins that were taken from Sting." Lucy pulled our Aries key, a soft glow filled the room as she came through. "Gramps filled me in on what happened to you and your escort when you were attacked so I had Gemini transform into the twins when Aries took them from their bassinet and put Gemini's copy of them into my arms. Speaking of which, Force Gate Closure, Gemini." Lucy could just imagine the screams of outrage that would be happening as Gemini returned to the celestial world. "These two have been safe in the celestial world but I'm sure you'll need to . . . need to . . . dark mages . . ." Lucy could feel the dark spots coming on again, impressed with how long she had managed to stay awake. The hole in her side hadn't closed even with the bright-eyed mages help earlier, which she suspected had something nasty in it preventing it from closing. She could see a pool of dark blood on the floor from where it flowed down her thigh to fall.

"Lucy," Wendy's voice called to her. "Lucy, I'm here to help, just try to stay awa . . ." that was the last she heard before the blackness claimed her and she willingly let it.

* * *

Wendy was breathing hard as he watched the shadow like mages disappeared, feeling hopeful until he heard a pained yell. She watched as Sting fell to his knees, tears falling down his face, utterly devastated that the boys were taken from him again. Rogue was there helping to console his brother-in-arms as Orga stood beside him, anger raged within him, white and hot but so did sadness over the outcome. The family were all hurting so she pushed her magic out to help ease them the best he could under the circumstances.

"It's not mine," she whispered through the tears as Bickslow approached her. "Lucy asked Orga to take her to Yukino, the blood is from her. She promised it was important that Sting came up too." Bickslow looked at Cana, both knowing that a celestial mage's word was absolute. They walked over to their the blonde man, helped him to stand as Bickslow's babies carried the three mages to the medical wing of the guild, landing just outside of Yukino's room. They all stumbled in through the door when they felt magic hum in the room, Yukino's hand was glowing due to tucy's hands covering them.

"Ohhh," Yukino mumbled as her eyes started to twitch before opening, blinking several times. Wendy stood there completely surprised by the development as she watched the tell-tale signs of someone waking up.

"Yuki!" Her mate rushed to her free side, both holding her hand in theirs.

"I'm sorry for worrying you like that. The loss of our boys sent me into a dark place, I didn't mean to leave the two of you alone." Her calm voice and tired smile was music to their ears as hugs between the family were shared. Wendy was safely tucked into Bickslow's side as tears freely fell from the reunion. "Lucy, I don't know how to repay you." The blonde woman just smiled, resting her hands in her lap, Wendy's keen eyes noticing how badly they were shaking.

"I'm sorry Yukino, but I lost the twins. Lucy brought them back to us and several shadows overwhelmed me and took them." Yukino's eyes filled with tears but she refused to let them fall.

"Then we'll get them back, together!" The firmness and confidence in her voice left very little room for argument.

"I hate to intrude, but . . . those weren't the twins that were taken from Sting." Lucy pulled our Aries key, a soft glow filled the room as she came through. "Gramps filled me in on what happened to you and Thane when you were attacked so I had Gemini transform into the twins when Aries took them from their bassinet and put Gemini's copy of them into my arms. Speaking of which, Force Gate Closure, Gemini. These two have been safe in the celestial world but I'm sure you'll need to . . . need to . . . dark mages . . ." Wendy rushed to Lucy's side, cursing herself inwardly for not scenting the smell of her blood earlier.

"Lucy," he bent down so that he was crouched next to her. "Lucy, I'm here to help, just try to stay awa . . ." She watched her eyes close and knew that she had passed out due to her injuries and her magic depletion. Orga scooped her up and nodded for Wendy to lead the way so that they could heal Lucy and leave the family of four to bond for the first time in four extremely long days. They took the blonde woman to another room further down the hall, Wendy pushed the door open to let the two blonde mages in. Orga set her down on the plush bed, looking down at his shirt that was covered in dark red blood, almost black.

"Wendy, this isn't right," his fingers touched his shirt, feeling the thickness of the blood. "This isn't natural bleeding if it was then you would have been able to heal her when you was working on the rest of these nasty ass cuts she had."

"I know," Wendy's hands were glowing a pale white as he hovered them above her body. "She's been poisoned with something and my magic can't get to it." Wendy heard Orga holler for several people, all of which who rushed into the room, giving a brief description of what was going on.

"If you can't heal her then there's something dark within her. I can see what I can find," Rogue's hands grasped Lucy's bare ankles as a dark glow took over his hands and eyes. He pushed his magic throughout her entire body, slowly inspecting everything he could, when he reached her chest there was a clash of black and gold as Rogue was thrown across the room.

"What the fuck was that?" Laxus yelled as Orga helped the shadow dragon slayer up.

"That, I believe, was a Phantom but I haven't seen or heard of them inhabiting a person before." Rogue stared at the spot he could see the little black creature burying its way into her heart.

"If I had to guess it entered her when she was stabbed, why her blood is turning black, and why Wendy can't heal her. Only cursed weapons or another shadow mage has the ability to do this but both are banned on Ishgar," Rufus recalled from his time in the library.

"Sprite, what the fuck have you stumbled onto this time?"


	3. His Choice

Lucy was floating . . . somewhere she had never been before. It was dark, cold, and she couldn't sense her spirits, which was starting to scare her. Never had Lucy not been able to sense them, outside of when Aquarius key was broken. She could feel dread start to coil in her stomach as she huddled on the floor in an attempt to quell her fears. She'd been lonely before, her parents and her team had seen to that, she'd never felt alone due to the servants at the konzern, her friends in Fairy Tail, and her spirits. Now, now there was nothing. Just the haunting darkness completely surrounding her, laughing at all of her mistakes over the years.

She swore she could actually hear someone chuckle, but that was crazy since she was the only one here, right? She pulled her knees closer to her chest, tried to push back the panic that was rising in her throat as her stomach churned. Every moment her life had taken a downward twist seemed to be replaying in her head, drawing her deeper and deeper into the black hole. Every time her father yelled at her, every time her team called her weak, every fight she lost, all of it came rushing back and all she wanted to do was disappear.

"You could embrace the darkness," a hollow voice floated around her. "Gain the freedom you have been wanting to attain for years, true freedom." Lucy raised her head so that her eyes were peeking out from the tops of her knees, listening intently as pale orange eyes stared back at her. "You'd have the strength to take down those that have wronged you, to fight your enemies without the strain of your magic, to have any man, woman, or child at your every beck and call, and never be alone, EVER again. Think about it." The strange creature left Lucy to ponder is words. The idea taking hold within her but there was this nagging feeling in the back of her head as if there was something more she had to do.

* * *

"Bickslow gets your ass in here," Laxus hollered as his eye began to glow and spark the longer he stared at Lucy. Bickslow skidded to a halt next to Rogue as his eyes flared green with his own magic use. He could feel the shadow dragon slayer fighting against whatever was inside Lucy as he watched her normally brilliant gold soul start to turn black.

"It's turning her, she starting become a dark mage," Bickslow breathed out as he tried to anchor the light of Lucy's soul to his own, to try to get her to stay. A soft white glow was surrounding Lucy, an attempt to bring her back as Bickslow ground his teeth to see what was going on. Babies! Get Porlyusica. Bickslow pleaded with his totems as he worked his magic, trying to find a way to grasp the fleeting gold.

"How did we not sense this?" Mineva questioned as she was bombarded with everyone's glare at her bluntness.

"The damn thing inside her has thrown up some kind of a barrier the further it takes hold," Rogue groaned as his shadows started to fluctuate around him. "I've never met a Phantom this powerful before. Whoever is controlling is a fucking strong mage. I can't get a lock on it to so it can be extracted, the damn thing is splitting itself, burrowing into different parts of her." Rogue felt useless, never before had something like this happened and he was wishing Gajeel was here to lend a helping hand.

Bickslow was doing everything in his power to keep Lucy anchored here but if his hunch was right then perhaps his best friend could help her, which in turn would help him as well. Only one way to find out. "I need someone to get Yukino to call the leader of the zodiac. Hopefully, he'll be able to answer this call, if only once." If anyone would agree to this it would need to be her spirits and the Spirit King himself. Minerva ran back to the room and shortly thereafter a dull chiming sound was heard.

"Fuck man," Bickslow cursed as he looked at the spirit he once partied with. His skin was pale, eyes sunken in, his suit was hanging off his limbs.

"Lucy's magic is going dark and we are slowing losing our light. I'm afraid if something isn't done soon we'll revert to our post-Eclipse Gate selves."

"We have an idea, but it's risky," Bickslow looked into Loke's eyes as he motioned between Lucy and the lightning dragon slayer several times, praying the lion would catch his drift. He smiled when it registered with the spirit. Loke hummed for several moments. It . . . could work, it could really anchor her to the light enough for everyone to pull out the Phantom out. Leo related the information to his King, who was hesitant to agree but eventually did with the blessing of another old friend who could only see the positive outcome of this. Sure things would be rocky for a while but they'd

figure things out, eventually.

"He gives his blessing," Loke left is a dull glitter of gold dust that listlessly fell to the ground.

"Laxus, grab Lucy's hand and tell me what you feel." Laxus frowned at his Bickslow, such a strange request since but he wasn't one to doubt his best friend so he placed his hand over one of Lucy's extremely cold one, his eyes flashing once as his dragon called for its mate. Laxus ripped his hand off the blonde, stumbling back as his mind reeled. The only time he had ever touched Lucy was when she was turned to stone by Evergreen when Fantasia started, otherwise he had no need to come into contact with her. Skin on skin was needed to identify mates, and here she had been in his guild the entire fucking time. "You need to mark her to save her, Bossman."

"It'll be forced! Her choice taken away from her!" Laxus was pissed, the idea of what he wanted him to do was already haunting him but his dragon was purring in delight. He didn't see himself in a good light, didn't see why his dragon would pick someone who was the light of their guild.

"Mark her or lose her!" Bickslow groaned as he sagged to his knees, still working to hold the woman in the light. "You've got a fucking minute to decide before she completely rejects my magic and I can no longer keep her with us." Laxus looked to the others in the room, who were all trying their best to save her life.

"Fuck, I hope this works," Laxus called forth his dragon, fangs elongating as he turned Lucy's head to the right. His magic flowed through him freely as he bit her shoulder, marking her as his mate and pumped his magic into the petite woman. He'd always wanted a mate but he sure as shit didn't think this was how it would come around, hopefully, they'd be able to work this out. He felt her magic pulse with his as he waved at everyone to keep going.

"Got you now!" a feral grin appeared on Rogue's lips as he began to pull the Phantom out of Lucy, piece by piece he tossed the darkness into Sting's light, destroying the dark creature as Wendy worked to heal all the internal damage. Bickslow sagged to the floor, withdrawing his magic, as he saw Lucy's soul brighten with every piece of the Phantom that obliterated by Sting's magic. It took two full hours of everyone cooperating together before Lucy was given the all clear and Cana volunteered to watch over her friend while the others got some food and sleep. She'd been helping clean up the mess from the attack when she noticed that only Juvia was there, wondering where everyone had went after the attack she began to look around. She heard Yukino crying while praying to the Spirit King to save Lucy and when she went to enter Lucy's room she found she couldn't. She waited for someone, anyone, to let her in but nothing happened. Hell, she wasn't even sure what was going on, felt so out of the loop at this point in time. Thankfully Wendy stayed behind to give her a brief synopsis of what had transpired.

For the first time in a long while, Cana felt truly useless. Her magic couldn't help her here, all her training meant nothing, and if it wasn't for the others they would have lost Lucy to the darkness or worse, death itself. Mavis only knows how Lucy was going to handle the news when she woke up, she could already feel the headache forming. The only good thing was that the rest of her team wasn't here to witness all of this, cringing, Cana thanked every star in the night sky that team destructo was doing something else and that Lucy. Laxus would need to fill in her and Juvia, along with Gramps, and she was sure he was avoiding that at all costs. Cana settled in a chair as she watched the rising and falling of Lucy's chest, content that she was going to be alright after this encounter.

* * *

Lucy was floating around in the darkness, listening to the whispers that were all around her. One telling her to leave the light and join the darkness, another telling her that her life held no meaning so she should just die, and the third very small voice telling her to hold on. It was a familiar voice but one she couldn't put her finger on anymore. The dark creature, man thing had come to visit her twice more since the first time she had met him. The words he was saying cascaded over her like a warm blanket in this cold dark place, but the ever-churning feeling in her stomach was just enough for her to not agree with anything he had said.

She felt like she had ample time to contemplate her life, the good, the bad, and the ugly and while two seemed to outweigh the third option it was the 'good' that gave her feelings of hope. Lucy felt the need to hold onto that small thread as if it was her last lifeline. She felt magic bubbling up inside her, beside her, and all around her in general but she couldn't understand why. She didn't feel as though she was in trouble or that something was out to get her, on the contrary, she felt quite safe here alone. Maybe being alone was the issue itself. Lucy was going to help her friends in another guild, an extension on her family in Fairy Tail. The fact that she couldn't remember had her clenching that string even tighter.

A moment of pain followed by a warm, soothing sensation filled her body. The dark creature from before started screaming as it tried to hide in the darkness that was starting to fade. With each moment the darkness drifted away she was remembering the good pieces of her past, her friends and family in Fairy Tail, all the quests she'd gone on, plus the reason she had come to Sabertooth in the first place. She rescued the twins from that awful place they were being kept in, she'd been hurt but didn't worry about it until she healed Yukino and brought the boys out safely.

"You would have made one hell of a dark mage," one voice from earlier called out to her. "It's never too late to walk our path, to join us and see what true power really is. We will forever be lurking in the shadows, waiting to corrupt your pure light. One day soon, we shall consume all the light that there is in this world and the true monsters of the night will roam free."

"There's always the second option," Lucy cringed upon hearing the nasally voice. "You could always permanently disappear from this world. Escape all the hardships and demands that others have put on you. After all, eternal darkness isn't so bad once you get here." Lucy closed her eyes, clapped her hands over her ears and tried to listen to the hum of the white light that was pulling her out. It was going to take a while for her to get her head on straight after this was all over, of that she was sure, but becoming a dark mage and committing suicide were not on her list of things to do. Her life may not have been perfect but it was what she made it into after leaving the konzern, and for that, she was proud and thankful.

Lucy felt like she was sitting in a hot tub, the warmth she was surrounded in made her feel safe while the voices were slowly becoming less and less distracting. Sleep sounded like a good idea. Getting some decent, well-deserved sleep in a safe environment was the best thing for her now. So, Lucy let herself slip off into a comfortable silence, where no other voices plagued her and she was free to do what she wanted.

When Lucy woke up she felt entirely too warm, she cracked an eye to see why that was only to discover a face full of blonde hair meeting her eyes. She tried to sit up but there was something awfully heavy in the center of her chest. Looking down she saw Cana was using her chest as a pillow, rolling her eyes at the woman before she was able to crawl out of bed without disturbing her. She looked down at herself and frowned. Lucy was still in the blood-stained clothes from . . . well, whenever she had gotten to Sabertooth and after a quick sniff, she wrinkled her nose.

She quietly walked around the spacious room until she found a bathroom, stripped, and hopped into the warm waters. Lucy didn't stay long in the shower, just enough to feel clean again before she jumped out and towel dried herself off. Virgo came through her own gate with a pile of new clothes for her and went back after Lucy thanked her. She put on the red lace bra and underwear first followed by dark jean shorts and a baby blue halter top then pulled her hair into a messy bun on top of her head. Lucy looked at herself in the mirror, seeing two small markings by her throat, shrugging it off as something that happened during her fight. Lucy found Bickslow sitting on her bed with a tray of food, her stomach rumbling in rebellion after not eating in so long. She could see the smirk on Bickslow's' face as well as the humour in his eyes but was glad to see he didn't comment on it. Smart man.

"How ya feelin' Cosplayer?"

"I feel good, Bix, a bit sore but that's probably because I haven't moved in a while. There are these two spots on my neck that are throbbing a bit now, but I don't know where they came from. I don't remember getting bit by a snake."

"No snake caused those marks."

"Orga!" Lucy jumped into the tall man's arms as he swung her around the room. The god slayer was lucky he was used to Lucy catapulting herself into her male friend's arms, otherwise, he definitely would have been on his ass. "How is everyone doing? Yukino and the twins alright?" Bickslow couldn't help but smile at Lucy, her concern for others over herself was admirable, most of the time.

"Yea everyone is doing good. Sting and Yukino had to purge some darkness from the boys at first but they're as happy as clams now."

"That's good." Lucy smiled while she rubbed at her neck, the throbbing was getting worse.

"Cosplayer, we need to talk. A lot of stuff happened after you passed out in the medical room Yuki was staying in." Lucy sat on the bed next to Bickslow as Orga filled her in on most of what had happened, conveniently leaving out the mating mark for now. Lucy was horrified over what had happened, what his family had to do to save her. She had teared up a few times, feeling awful about Rogue being hurtled into the wall and how he and Bickslow had to anchor her to them just to make her stay. Lucy hadn't told them all about her time in the darkness, how the voices were trying to convince her there were only two paths and her own revelations about just how bad parts of her life truly were. There were reasons to be happy so she'd concentrate on those.

"There is one more thing Sprite and it'll be a lot harder to take in than everything else." Lucy looked between the two men, wanting to know what else they knew.

"There are soul mates, god slayer mates, and dragon slayer mates in this world, which I am sure you are familiar with Cosplayer," Bickslow started trying to ease her into this. "As you know these bonds are extremely powerful once they have been established and the mated pair with receive many benefits from the mating. In order for us to keep you in the light and keep you alive, we had to create that bond with you and your mate who happened to be in the room with us. Your soul was crying out and his was trying to reach you so we were given the okay to save your life by bonding your soul to his." Lucy blinked several times, her mind working on digesting everything Bickslow was saying. Loke stepped out of his own gate, looking much better than the prior day.

"Are you telling me that I have a soul mate out there, one I have never met, and we are currently tied together for all eternity so that my life could be saved?" Lucy slowly asked her, mind still spinning.

"Yes and no. You have met him and yes you're tired to him now." Lucy stood up and started pacing, the three men looking at each other with grim expressions.

"The choice to mate me off with the first potential, eligible man in the same room as me at the time was given the okay by who?" Bickslow and Orga turned to Loke who was loosening the tie around his neck. Lucy's hard look landed on the lion spirit, waiting for him to talk.

"Remember we love you and wanted you to come back to us alive and safe," Leo stated as he held his ground under her hard look. "Your keys were slowly wasting away as the light of your soul disappeared, so the Spirit King gave the okay to tie you to the lightning dragon slayer in order to . . ."

"Laxus is my mate!" Lucy yelled at the three men. "You took away my choice on who I get to love and spend the rest of my life with a hope that the mating would actually work! What if it hadn't? Would you have found the next single guy with magic compatible to mine to try and bind me too? What if we hate each other? If we have absolutely nothing in common? What if we aren't attracted to one another?" By now Lucy was shouting loud enough that they were sure the whole place would be able to hear this conversation. The clenching of her fists alerted the three mages that they had royally pissed her too.

"We love you, Princess, we just wanted you to be safe."

"Well what if I had wanted to die, then what? The things they told me, showed me, weren't great and gave me a different outlook from the one I currently have."

"Sprite you don't mean that, right?" Orga was utterly shocked by what Lucy was telling them.

"I'd never be a dark mage, but the idea of just washing my hands of everything didn't seem so bad at the time. I am grateful to be alive but knowing how it happened makes a person wonder. Not only did I tether myself to a man I don't even know but he did the same because some of you think I'm important. So you just destroyed both of our free wills in choosing something that we each wanted. I know this mating mark can't be undone but I'll be damned if I just roll over and let it dictate the rest of my life with some stranger!" Lucy stormed out of the room, slamming the door so hard the glass shattered as she ran away. Ran from everything that had happened, everything she was told, to a place she could hopefully, gather her thoughts.

"Well, that wasn't as bad as it could have been. At least nobody was Lucy Kicked," Bickslow tried to find the silver lining but judging by the looks on Orga and Loke's faces it definitely didn't go well. They'd need to keep a close eye on the woman, who would need to speak to someone about . . . whatever transpired while she was out. Plus another eye on Laxus so he didn't do anything stupid either. He's sit down with Master Makarov and Master Sting to figure it out, in the meantime he'd send his babies to watch the two blondes.


	4. Her Escape

Gajeel had been following Lucy for two weeks now as she stuck around Sabertooth, the blonde recently decided she needed to head to Crocus to visit a friend. She had been very careful not to mention who she was visiting with anyone in the house or guild. Lucy absolutely refused to take meals with anyone, talk with anyone outside of Bickslow and Orga and had even stopped calling her spirits out. Needless to say, the petite blonde sure knew how to hold a grudge and stay angry and Gajeel couldn't fault her... well to a degree he couldn't. He was hoping she'd at least be a tad bit grateful that they had all worked together to save her, but he supposed she was too wrapped up in her own little world. Bickslow and Orga were adamant that once she figured out everything and had a chance to come around that she be appreciative, Gajeel was starting to doubt that as week two was coming to an end.

Laxus tried not to take offense to the way Lucy was behaving but it was hard knowing he had a mate out there that was less than happy with the idea of being mated to him. Gajeel had asked Bickslow how he was doing a couple of nights ago and while Laxus was coping alright his dragon certainly wasn't. He was slowly going crazy since they hadn't been able to finish the physical part of the mating yet. Bickslow had asked Natsu to keep an eye out for any early warning about the dragon losing his ever-loving shit. Something like this had never happened to them before and they had no records on file either so this was all a shot in the dark right now. Be prepared for anything was how they were approaching the subject.

Gajeel watched as Lucy packed her clothes in a small suitcase, only enough for three or four days by the looks of it. He frowned at that, after all, she had been talking about going to Crocus for a couple of weeks to the minty lightning asshole earlier that morning. Her flight also wasn't set to leave until tomorrow at nine am, something wasn't right here. Once she closed the suitcase with a huff she sat in the middle of the floor. Gajeel smiled, at least throughout all of this mess she had been continuing her meditations and workouts. The workouts were his favorite part as he was able to be in the same room as her without looking like he was following her, plus keeping up his own routine was a bonus.

He called Levy every night to check up on his mate and see how things were going, he was missing her more and more. This was Levy's best friend though, one of his too if he was being honest with himself, and they both agreed this was important to the guild and to them personally. Thankfully, Levy's baby bump hadn't grown too much while he was away, he really didn't want to miss anything that occurred with the pregnancy. Gajeel was still utterly surprised that Bickslow tasked Natsu with keeping an eye on Laxus, who had since returned to Fairy Tail, or the fact that Gramps agreed with Bickslow. He supposed it was smart. Natsu had a nose no-one could beat so tracking the man would be easy, plus he could hold his own if Laxus' dragon decided to make an appearance.

Lucy started to emit a golden glow around herself, which was usual with all of her meditations, what wasn't was the fact that the light was expanding outwards in a rapid way. Her eyes opened, a wide smile on her face as she held her powers in place. Gajeel was impressed, he'd never seen meditations done like this before since it was usually about collecting and calming the magic within.

"Hello, Gajeel. I knew someone had been sent to watch me, I just didn't think it was quite this close." She spoke while staring at the wall in front of her. "I thought that feeling in the pit of my stomach was from being watched, granted it wasn't the creepy-as-fuck kind of stalking I'm used to. Have you been following me in the shadows since I stormed off that first day?" Well fuck! Did he pretend he wasn't there or openly come out and talk with her?

"I've been following your ass since you left." He smiled when she snorted, so he walked out of his shadow.

"Can your shadows track my light?"

"Not easily but I think I can do it. I'm better with tracking magic similar to my own."

"Probably why you're the first person Gramps send on infiltration missions." Gajeel's jaw tightened as he looked at the blonde since he thought that only Levy, Gramps, and Laxus were privy to that information. "What is it you think I do while reading on my L-tablet or meditating?"

"Figured you were reading or researching for your book?" He shrugged his shoulders, not really sure why it was a big deal what she did in her spare time.

"You're in for quite the surprise then when you figure out what I've been doing," Lucy chuckled at the iron dragon slayer. "Better yet, how about I show you one of the things I've been working on?" The light receded back into Lucy's body as a celestial gate opened beneath her and she fell through it. Gajeel stood there, utterly dumbstruck by what just occurred. Bickslow, Rogue, Orga, Rufus, and Minerva ran into the room as Gajeel looked from them to where Lucy was and back again.

"Dude, what the hell was with the swell of magic?" Bickslow asked, green eyes scanning the area for anything that shouldn't be there. Gajeel gave them a rundown of what had just happened. "Did you know she could do that?"

"Fuck no! If I did I wouldn't still be here! Feather hat man, you have any ideas?" Rufus glared at Gajeel before answering.

"Celestial magic is holder magic so for her to open a gate to transport herself would be utterly impossible. I know everything there is to know about the magic based on my conversations with Yukino and all of the reading I have done on the topic. This isn't something that should be possible."

"Trust Cosplayer to come up with something crazy like this. Gajeel, do you think you can track her?" He took several moments to mull it over before answering.

"I can, won't be easy but it's doable. I'll need the other cocky fucker from Sabertooth to come with me though, help me sift through what's going on."

"Abso-fucking-lutely! I forfeit my dibs on telling Gramps, I think that should be the task of the Sabertooth guild master while I inform the new your mage of his new mission," Bickslow cackled as he left the room to find Gajeel's temporary teammate.

"Fuck you, Bix!" Peels of laughter were heard but the shit was right, he needed to tell the Master of Fairy Tail. This wasn't going to be a nice conversation, not the slightest fucking bit. There was no telling who the old man would send to Sabertooth to collect Lucy once she was back.

* * *

Lucy landed hard on her ass on a picnic table in the middle of a park, groaning as she stood up. The park! Lucy immediately stood up, jumping around in excitement over the fact that her gate to another place had worked. There were several eyes on her as she just smiled, waved, before jumping off the picnic table and walked away from everyone. She could hear people muttering about how strange mages were and she giggled, they definitely weren't wrong.

She'd been working on this with Grandpa Crux for the past two weeks, researching and coming up with theories on how it worked until she put it to the test today. Contrary to popular belief she was talking with her spirits, just through the keys that sat on her hip instead of in person. Lucy was still pissed to high heaven about what had happened, had been ignoring Loke for the past two weeks as her ire still burned hot. Crux was the one who suggested that she get an outside opinion on the matter, one who had dragon knowledge.

Lucy was heading to a small cafe where she had been told to meet her friend after he'd thoroughly yelled at her for being an idiot. He was on a solo mission in the capital so she needed to speak with him without her literal shadow following her. The opportunity was there she just needed to grasp it.

She was sure they were all surprised about her using a gate to travel, granted she felt bad for leaving Cana and Juvia out of the loop. She'd been stuck in her own little world and she knew the girls were still hanging around Sabertooth for her benefit, even if Cana was getting her drinks paid for every night by any willing Saber male. Or at least she assumed she was since they hadn't talked, damn she really was an awful friend lately. It just, it fucking hurt knowing that the decision about who you were going to spend the rest of your life with was decided for you. There were things about it that were so incredibly wrong, you'd think that they'd had found another way but she also trusted two of the people who had been in that room when the decision was made. She was wishing Team Natsu, the original members, were around, she was missing them something fierce but wasn't ready to head back to Fairy Tail since Laxus was there. Her old team had moved on with their lives so Team Natsu wasn't a real thing anymore but they still had meals at the guild, talked about their plans for the future. She was just the odd woman out being single and all except Wendy but she was pretty sure she had a crush on someone.

"Would you cut that shit out Tink? You'll find some guy who's just as sappy as your gorgeous ass one day, poor fucker." Lucy giggled as she launched herself at the man she was here to meet. Her head rested under his chin as he wrapped her arms around her back. She loved being able to see Erik, even if it was only once every couple of months. "I've missed you too Tink. Glad you could make it here, seems like you've got a shit tonne of stuff to spout about, but first food. This place makes the best oleander sauteed vegetables around." Lucy linked arms with Erik as the entered the cafe, ordered and sat down. Lucy was quiet, not normal for the bright woman and that in itself worried Cobra.

"That fucking wall you have up, take it down now. I don't like not being able to hear your soul when you're around."

"You sure? It's been a crazy two weeks with a lot of shit."

"Lay it on me, babe!" Lucy laughed before she brought down all of her walls she carefully placed up. Cobra gasped as she bombarded him with everything that had happened since she received the call from Makarov. He sifts through it all, flinching here, nodding there as he listens to everything she has to tell him.

"Well fuck Tink. You went on this grande ass adventure and didn't invite me along, I should be offended." Lucy rolled her eyes, still smiling at the maroon-haired man. "You're the only one who knows that the bitch of a dragon inside my lacrima has woken and has been giving me dragon life pointers. Just so you know she really, really wants to see this lightning dragon slayer. Damn hormonal bitch."

"She has a high sex drive like all dragon, she just happens to enjoy men as much as you do. Haven't you met Laxus?" Lucy happened upon that secret by a complete accident when she was working a solo mission as a waitress in a ritzy mage club. Mages were the only patrons allowed to work or enter the club and they were in desperate need of a blonde with a killer body. She had to send in pictures of herself along with measurements and had received an offer within twenty-four hours of doing so. She had an outstanding job with them for the third Friday and Saturday of every third month, hence why she was there now.

Cobra had also been working at the club, he was a bartender and she was a waitress. Lucy kept the crazy woman off his ass and he did the same for men who were too damn handsy for their own good. Their shift had ended at four am and she was going back to her changeroom when she heard muffled noises coming from Cobra's room and opened the door a crack to find that he was fucking another blue-haired waiters mouth. She had closed the door but her soul had been so incredibly happy if not a bit turned on when she had left him to his night. Cobra had sabotaged several of Lucy's dates from the club after hearing some nasty comments about what they were planning on doing to the woman, including selling her to a breeder in Seven. Needless to say, the man had died a tragic death after consuming poisoned pizza in his own apartment alone.

"You've got three hours to be all sentimental and shit before we have to head to work, time's a tickin. I've only seen the man for seconds at a time or the one spread in Sorcerer Weekly, but I do know his magic is impressive as fuck. Could feel that shit in the air during the fight with the dragons, almost as much as I could feel Natsu's."

"I think I've got my brain wrapped around most of everything that happened, but I still can't swallow the whole 'your mated' thing."

"First of all, you need to stop being such a little bitch and actually talk to the man. You're not one to run away from something like this so why the hell have you been avoiding it for two weeks?"

"I'm scared. Scared of bringing the wrong choice for him," she whispered as she tapped her fingers nervously on the table. "This is the Laxus Dreyar! The man is an extremely powerful dragon slayer, S Class mage, and the grandson to the Master of my guild who happens to be a Wizard Saint."

"How does an ex-heiress who just made S Class and is constantly on every dark guild's hit list compared to...that?" Lucy gestured nothing in particular. Cobra smirked, finally understanding why Lucy was running away.

"Why the fuck are you scared about not being good enough for this sexy fucking beast? You have so many other qualities besides those stupid ass titles. You did rescue two light mage children from the grasp of a seriously twisted enemy, on your own. How many people do you know can herd the cats, I mean mages, in your guild."

"That's just...that's just who I am."

"Fucking right it is! I have one eye and know that you're the most amazing person I have ever known and am sure as shit proud to call you my kin!" Kin, that was something she'd known very little about until Cobra had sat her down to tell her about it. A familial bond formed by a blood oath when a dragon finds someone to call their own. They would be brother and sister for all of eternity and he'd protect her something fierce until his own mate was found. They'd cut their palms and swapped blood to complete the pack. Lucy now had a high tolerance to poison while Erik could summon a spirit in dire circumstances. Thankfully, neither had to test these new gifts after Cobra's dragon had explained it to him.

"I don't like having something that big decided for me."

"Laxus would have touched you sooner or later, chances are sooner since you're in the same damn guild. Fate doesn't let shit like that escape, it's too damn important. So what you need to do is talk to this sexy-as-fuck man before you let him bury, what I am sure is an amazing dick in that sweet little pussy of yours. It'll also stop the irritation you feel from the mark to complete the physical aspect of the mating." Lucy hadn't even realized she was rubbing her neck as Cobra pointed it out. "Anyway, your therapy session is complete for the next three months and we have a club to get too. When I see you on stage try and point out my mate, what I wouldn't give to sink my fangs into a seriously delicious man." Lucy laughed as they put their dirty dishes on the stand before leaving the cafe to head to work.

She really enjoyed working with Erik at the club and was glad they were on the same shift every three months or else it'd be super boring. Lucy wondered what kind of an outfit she'd be made to wear for these two nights. Everything she wore showed off her assets, without feeling like she should be on a street corner. They were custom made every time she worked and since she was with the high rollers now they were just...extra. They were walking by the front entrance of the club on their way to the back where employees entered when Cobra stopped.

"Who is that fucking gorgeous man?" Cobra's dragon was on high alert as they watched the man attempt to flirt with the one he was with, getting turned down at every corner. The emerald-haired man looked divine in his black, tight, sleeveless shirt and tight dark-washed jeans, with lilac colored eyes held endless amounts of mischief in them, and pouty lips that deserved to be kissed, hard. His chocolate skin looked absolutely lickable as the stranger put his muscular arms behind his head.

"The watchdog or the hound?" Cobra glared at her while she snickered. "Pretty sure you know who Gajeel is, the iron dragon slayer of Fairy Tail."

"Who is the other one, Tink?"

"That, my dear friend, is Kenzo Warren. Requip mage, a former assassin for the Magic Council, and one of the best recruits Sabertooth has gotten. His . . . skillset is highly sought after. If you're lucky they'll follow us in and you can flirt to your heart's content. Maybe if we're lucky you can mate the poor sap and get him off my back and onto yours for a while."

"Oh Tink, I love the way your pervy brain thinks."


	5. Heading Home

Lucy slumped into an empty chair, enjoying the quiet of the room she was currently alone in. The night at the club had been crazy busy, she slipped her heels off and rubbed her sore feet. Tonight they had dressed her in a dark blue strapless leather micro dress with white three-inch stilettos, something a few of the high rollers had appreciated and tipped very well. Next shift she'd be in something different altogether but had yet to hear if she'd be with the high rollers again or on the main floor. She preferred the high rollers because they were, generally, much less handsy and liked to flirt up a storm.

It was four am and she was absolutely exhausted. Cobra was the only other server still in the club since the cleaning crew would be in at seven am so that everything would be spotless for when they opened at five pm. Lucy saw the bags under her eyes, hidden with makeup to most people in the dimly lit club. She hadn't been sleeping well the last couple nights, plagued with dreams of being holed up in the blackness again.

"You okay, Tink?"

"Tired but I'm alright, thanks."

"Those two men from earlier in the day are still here. The sexy one wants to talk with you while the broody one would prefer to go to bed." Lucy bit her lip as she stared at Cobra. "You can't outrun what happened forever, Tink. You were a complete asshole to those who helped you, while I get it, it still doesn't change the fact your shitty attitude hurt people."

"Will . . . Will you stay close, please?" Lucy whispered as she hung her head, knowing that Cobra was right and that she had a lot to answer for.

"You know it. I'll get Dane to bring them in and I'm going to change but will have an ear out." He kissed the top of Lucy's head before talking with the bouncer and then headed to his own room. Cobra felt bad for Lucy, could sympathize with her on several levels but knew she needed to deal with . . . whatever the fuck was going on in her head sooner or later. There were missing pieces to the puzzle, ones she had blocked out intentionally or not. The downright delicious mage in black leather had filled him on the rest of what happened. He knew Lucy could make amends about what had happened to those who helped her but it certainly wasn't going to be easy. He heard the two men enter the room, he might be eavesdropping but he could give two shits.

"Hey, Lucy, quite a club that's hidden in the capital. Wasn't expecting to find a gem like this in Crocus." Kenzo pulled out a chair, turned it so the back was facing Lucy and took a seat with his arms folding over the top. "Wendy is fucking pissed with the whole disappearing act, gave me a couple of good chuckles watching Sting explain what happened."

"How did you teleport? I've never seen a holder mage use caster magic like that before, even if spacial magic is similar to celestial magic." Gajeel asked from where he was leaning against the wall. That was something that had stumped most of them, and while they had several very real hypothesis he was interested to hear how she had pulled it off.

"I had been giving it some thought lately so I posed the question to Grandpa Crux, who had done extensive research in the celestial world while I asked the only teleporter I could think of in Fairy Tail, Mest Gryder." Lucy turned from the mirror as she spoke the energy mage. "I open a gate every time one of my spirits come through so it stood to reason that I could open one to a familiar place. Celestial magic is in my blood so I had tried it with some things, like a book or apple and had great success. Coming to the park here in Crocus was the first time I'd ever transported myself and the distance itself took a toll on my magic. Something to practice going forward." Gajeel nodded his head, it made sense and Rufus would be happy to know his theory on the topic was right.

"Rufus is going to be insufferable," Kenzo mumbled to Gajeel who smirked back at his partner. "You obviously know why I'm here."

"You want to take me back but I suspect there's something else as well."

"Imma rip off the bandaid in one quick motion kind of guy so that's how I'll say what I have to say," Kenzo looked at Lucy who was playing with her hands in her lap, knowing she was nervous. "You're an idiot. Firstly, you left the Sabertooth without telling anyone where you were going, leaving us with several angry and confused mages, two of which happened to Laxus and Wendy. Do you have any idea how fucking dangerous it is out there, especially with a guild who is after light mages? You've already been attacked by a nasty ass Phantom that was slowly spreading itself through your body. Several of our guildmates worked their asses off to help and what do they get from you? Absolutely nothing! You decided it was easier to paint us like the fucking enemies!"

Lucy looked down at her hands, tears filling her eyes as she listened to Kenza. He wasn't wrong, on the contrary, he was a hundred percent right and it was a slap in the face hearing it from him. One that she knew she needed and was more than likely going to be getting again once she was back to the guild.

"You held onto the fact that we stole your choice of who you'd get to love instead of the fact that we SAVED your life. Hell, Laxus didn't even know you were his mate until Bickslow told him to grab your hand. The crazy mohawk man can see how souls respond to one another, has known since forever that you two were destined for one another but was trying not to push it, because the shit is special. You're not the only one who was majorly affected by a decision to do so." Kenzo watched her entire body flinch at his comment. He wasn't trying to be mean but he needed to make her realize that what she did was wrong and this was the best way he knew how.

"No," Lucy whispered so quietly that Kenzo barely heard her.

"You also didn't even give my guild a chance, you threw me into the 'stupid playboy' box without knowing much about me. Yes I like to flirt, and yes I have my share of partners but those two things do not define me. My friends are the most supportive and amazing group of people you will ever meet and you just ignored all of us, not to mention your guild members staying in Sabertooth."

"It was easier to push everything that had happened deep down, put the blame on someone else and pretend to be a snobby brat," Lucy humorlessly chuckled at herself. "I was stuck in my own little world, not wanting to care about anything, or anyone else."

"I get that what happened shook you up . . ."

"I contemplated suicide! I had darkness consume me to the point that I had thought about siding with a dark guild! How . . . how does someone cope with that? My heart knows what I did to everyone was wrong, that I was an incredible bitch. My mind tells me I was trying to work it all out but I didn't. I just pushed everyone away, the same way my father pushed me away!" The tears were flowing freely down her cheeks as she angrily brushed them away, standing she started to pace.

"I sleep with all the lights on because I'm scared of the shadows. I dream that I've turned dark and I watch myself kill my guild members, friends, and family. I turn my spirits into slaves, treat them exactly the opposite of how I promised I never would." Lucy started to fall to the floor but Kenzo was there to catch her.

"Keeping all this shit in isn't good for you. You need to talk with someone who understands," Kenzo whispered as he held Lucy close. "I know better than anyone else, except maybe Bix, how hard shouldering a burden like this can be."

"What do I do Kenzo? I've made a complete mess of absolutely everything."

"First things first, Tink, you need to go and apologize for being a fucking nightmare. Then you need to get your hot ass into counseling to work everything out." Cobra stated as he leaned on the doorway. "If Kenzo and Bickslow have dealt with something like this before then maybe they can help."

"Oh, I already had plans to train her. Originally it was because I was pissed and wanted to pummel you into the ground, still, kinda do, but you're going to need the tools I have in order to not succumb to the darkness. Granted, completing the mating bond will help that significantly."

"First things first though Tink, you're going to have to deal with whatever comes your way," Cobra smirked as Lucy shivered knowing she was in for it.

"Kenzo," Lucy raised her head to look into his lilac eyes so he knew she was serious. "I am incredibly sorry for running away from you and coming to Crocus. I am very appreciative of everything you did in helping to save my life and if you can find a way to forgive me I will be forever grateful. If you're serious about training with you then I would be honored to work with a mage like yourself."

"Careful Tink, don't want to give him a big head."

"You'll have to earn my forgiveness and I can't speak for the others," Kenzo smiled at Lucy before turning his eyes to Cobra, looking the man up and down. "You're just jealous you haven't seen how big it is, yet."

"Damn straight I am!" Gajeel groaned in the corner listening to them. "You said you'd introduce us Tink, I think that should be my reward for helping you out." Lucy giggled as she stood up, wiping the remaining tears from her eyes.

"Leaning against the wall is Gajeel, resident iron dragon slayer of Fairy Tail." Cobra shook the man's hand as he waited for his introduction to the sinfully sexy man. "Kenzo is a requip mage who specializes in certain areas of handling covert missions." Cobra outstretched his hand for Kenzo to shake, the dark-skinned man gripped his hand firmly while smirking the entire time. Lucy started to giggle uncontrollably when she watched Cobra's eyes dilate and glow softly, Gajeel and Kenzo looking at her puzzled.

"I may have made a crack at Cobra earlier about you needed to get off my back and onto his. Judging by his glowing eyes you're about to get more than you bargained for." Kenzo looked back at the dragon slayer, eyes going wide as he realized what Lucy was getting at.

"Cobra . . . am I your mate?" Cobra growled in response as he leaped for Kenzo, pressing him into the nearest wall, claiming his lips in a possessive kiss.

"I think that's our cue to leave." Gajeel motioned for Lucy to go ahead of him as he closed the door behind them.

"I'll let the remaining staff know to leave that room off limits for the next couple hours. Think they'll leave the room anytime soon?"

"Kenzo might not worry too much about where and when but I feel like Cobra will mind more." Lucy laughed as the two mages left the club, Lucy looked over her shoulder, extremely happy that her friend had found his mate. For the first time in a while, things didn't seem bleak.

Kenzo had knelt down in front of Cobra's raging hard-on, had easily removed the slayer's clothing while the other occupants in the room had left, and slowly licked the head. He then proceeded to slide his tongue on Cobra's cock. He traced patterns on Cobra's exquisite length from top to bottom, he alternated between slow and firm strokes of his tongue, too fast and short strokes over the head of Cobra's length. It felt really good as Cobra watched Kenzo teasing his cock while gently cupping his balls. Kenzo slowly slid his mate-to-be's cock into his mouth, only stopping when Cobra hit the back of his throat and when his lips were at the tip of Cobra's length. He kept doing this over and over, Cobra felt himself building up for a really big orgasm, tugging the dark locks on Kenzo's head. Cobra groaned when the head of his cock slowly entered Kenzo's throat, his nose pushing into pelvis taking him deeper than any other had. It was tight, warm, and wet while he was moved his adams' apple against Cobra's cock.

His hands tightened in Kenzo's hair, pulling the talented man off his cock so Kenzo could devour his mouth, causing Kenzo to moan in response. Cobra went to undo the button on Kenzo's pants before pulling them down his to see he wasn't wearing boxers.

"I rarely wear boxers, feel too constrained in them."

"Best damn thing I've heard all day!" Cobra spun Kenzo around, pressing his front against the wall as his saliva covered finger started to work hit his tight hole. "I can't wait to fuck you."

"Fuuuck! I can't wait for you to sink your teeth into me," Kenzo panted as Cobra added a second finger, his other hand wrapping around his mate's long, hard length. "To think . . . I'll be stuck . . . with your sexy . . . ass forever and . . . ever."

"Whips, chains, ball gags, all the toys we can try out and see what you like," Cobra purred into Kenzo's ear.

"Promises, promises," Kenzo braced the wall as the tip of Cobra's thick cock push through him. Cobra slowly continued to ease himself in until his pelvis touched Kenzo's ass, hands grabbing either side of his hips as he slowly pulled out and snapped forward quickly, both groaning at the feeling. Cobra started a brutal pace then, loving the way Kenzo was begging for more and the fact it was him fucking his tight little ass. Cobra kissed his neck, teeth grazing the spot where he was going to sink his fangs claiming Kenzo as his.

Kenzo was moaning, the way that Cobra had set his blood on fire which he figured had something to do with the fact they were mates. Sex had always felt amazing for him but this, this was something extra, something special. A connection was forging and if this was the tip of the iceberg on how fucking amazing sex would be he'd die a happy man. They'd have so much to figure out about one another but one thing was for sure, they wouldn't have issues fucking each other senseless. "So close. You put those fangs in me and I'll be done."

He bit, not breaking the skin, causing Kenzo's hips to thrust forward from the intense feeling. Cobra was very much looking forward to calling this man his mate. He was fucking sexy as hell, wasn't a pansy ass, and was looking forward to learning all he could about the man. He didn't think he'd find this tall drink of water in Crocus nor would say person be his mate, but who was he to question the fact the universe dropped him on his fucking doorstep. "If you want me to stop you better tell me now or . . ."

"Never . . . Never stop! We can, ohh, figure everything, mhmm, out later." Cobra smiled against Kenzo's neck, his end nearing so he picked up his pace. He sunk his fangs into Kenzo's shoulder who moaned his name out, his seed spraying against the wall from his orgasm as Cobra let his load go within Kenzo's hot body. Both men stood there panting, satisfied smiles on their faces.

"Don't suppose you can get us to my hotel room, Crocus Holiday Inn, room six thirteen? I feel like that needs a repeat performance."

"Hmmm, I like the way you think." Kenzo turned to pull Cobra in for a kiss, excited for this new adventure.

* * *

Lucy strolled into the club, an hour before opening so that she could get into her outfit and get caught up on the agenda for tonight. Gajeel had followed her to the club, talking about Levy the entire way there. She hadn't been able to get a hold of Cobra on his com and no-one answered when they banged on the door for five whole minutes. Finally, he used his enhanced hearing to listen to the quiet and the snoring of the two men in the room. He snorted, wondering if they had fucked each other until they passed out since.

"Think they'll be here tonight?"

"They'll show up ten minutes before opening, enough time to have a quickie and get Cobra here before he's in too much shit." Lucy giggled at that thought, the grumpy slayer always liked to be on time so she wondered how he'd feel about cutting it close tonight. "How'd you sleep last night?"

"Considering I was several floors away from Kenzo and Cobra, excellent." It was the truth too. They hadn't been running for their lives, he wasn't close to Kenzo while having sex with his mate, and there weren't on a mission. He enjoyed a peaceful night to himself. "How'd you sleep?" Lucy's smile faded causing Gajeel to frown.

"I slept for about four hours altogether, I think. The dreams were bad last night."

"You're going to ask someone for help, right? I know it was mentioned before but I want to ensure that you actually get better."

"I promise that I will ask and if they say no then I will seek out another professional." Gajeel nodded as a short, petite woman walked in handed Lucy a clothing bag and walked out, not sparing him a second glance. Lucy unzipped the bag, glaring at the contents within it. "What in the hell is this?" Lucy pulled out a blue bunny suit, Gajeel tried his best to stifle a laugh. "Gretchen!" The woman entered the room again. "Is this really my outfit for the night?" The woman looked mortified as she grasped the tag of the bag, cursing in a thick Ministrellan accept.

"Wrong bag, I shall be right back!" She scurried out of the room as Lucy sighed in relief, she had worn enough bunny costumes to last a lifetime. "Here is the correct one. Len wants to see you once you are ready as well." Lucy carefully opened the second bag, smiling growing as she opened it. Gajeel went to look over Lucy's shoulder to inspect the outfit, he was pretty sure the bunny outfit covered more than the one she had now.

"I'll be outside the door while you change." Gajeel excused himself so Lucy could get ready. Lucy pulled the sapphire blue dress out of the bag and set it on the back of the chair and she stripped, grabbing nude nipple pasties and placing them on herself. She looked at the dress and then back to her underwear choices, finally deciding on a black lace tanga. The spaghetti strap dress had a deep cowl neck that showed off her ample cleavage, a small knot in the racerback and fell just before her knee but there were slits up but her thighs that stopped just before her hip bone. The material felt like silk against her skin as she smoothed it out over her body.

"You ready to go Tink? Len is asking for us?" Lucy looked up at Cobra, his bright eye showed his happiness even though he was trying to hide it under his snark. "Damn Tink! What kind of people are you hosting tonight? Pretty sure a small breeze would show everyone your snatch."

"My snatch is clothed, thank you very much!" Lucy put on the white wedges that were left in the room before following Cobra out.

"There you are!" A short, balding, chubby man said from his place on the barstool. "We have a group of high ranked officials coming in tonight from Caellum. I've been told they are working with Princess Hisui on Monday over some new trades, so we want to make a good impression! You two have been assigned to the private bar room for the entirety of the evening so keep them happy." Len spun around on his stool and began talking to the people behind the main bar on the first level.

"Where's Kenzo?" Lucy asked as the two of them headed to their designated area for the night.

"Lurking in the club, I'm sure." Cobra smirked as Kenzo 'accidentally' bumped his shoulder while walking past him.

"I don't lurk, babe, I prowl."

"You're prowling days are over. You're just going to have to accept that you're stuck with all this awesomeness!" Lucy giggled as Kenzo seemed to be pondering Cobra's statement.

"I suppose being stuck with you won't be a bad thing." Kenzo smacked Cobra's ass, laughing as he went in search of Gajeel.

"Let's get this night over with so we can get the hell outta here. I have plans and they involve a certain wine eyed man and a ton of sex!" Lucy rolled her eyes as she went to the till to get everything set up for the night while Cobra arranged the bar the way he wanted.

It was coming to the end of their shift and Lucy was working very hard not to laugh as three of the eight men were sitting at the bar, flirting with Cobra, attempting to get him to go home with them for the night so they could share. He would send glares her way every so often but she couldn't do too much since they weren't into girls, at least not tonight. Turns out they flipped a coin to see which gender they'd be chasing tonight, Cobra lucked out.

She was currently sitting in one of the other five men's lap, listening intently as they discussed the legalities of the new trade agreement. They were also discussing a potential marriage agreement between Hisui and one of the lords from Caellum, how it would be beneficial if she would accept their proposal. One of the other men had steered them back onto the export of fresh fruit from the country after working mercilessly to get their farming operations back up to par, prior to the flood that occurred three years ago.

"Another round Miss!" Lucy stood to get the drinks from Cobra, ignoring the whistles and comments about how great her ass looked.

"This will be the last call, are you sure you only want one more round?"

"One more round and three shots each of the honey vodka you have stored away."

"You are aware of the price?" Lucy eyed the men who all nodded their heads in agreement. Lucy keyed in her order, gathering twenty-four shot glasses as Cobra began mixing the drinks. Honey Howler was a specialty that was made in Crocus from the large bee colony that was distilled southeast of the capital. It was a pricey drink but one of the perks about working at the club was that they were sent home a bottle after every mission. Lucy signaled down to the bouncers that last call had been served, so the patrons had a half hour to finish their drinks and head out for the night.

Kenzo and Gajeel headed up the stairs when the last of the men were stumbling out of the club. Kenzo possessively kissed Cobra, grabbing his ass and hauling his body against his own.

"Here I thought it'd be just me who was the possessive ass hole."

"Watching those men flirt with you all night gave me so many ideas that I can't wait to try on you. This fine ass though," Kenzo groped Cobra's firm ass, "will only ever have me inside it."

"While I hate to break this up, we have a flight to catch from the airport in an hour."

"An hour?" Lucy and Cobra yelled as they looked to the energy mage.

"Turns out SOMEONE told Yukino that I have a mate, so now you kinda have to meet the family." Cobra blinked several times as he let it register, a family . . . he had a real family outside of his brotherly love for Lucy.

"I can ask Virgo to pack our rooms up and store everything in the celestial world if you like?" Cobra just nodded his head as Lucy spoke with the maiden spirit.

"Cobra, babe? Are you ok?" Kenzo cupped his cheek, searching his face for some sign as to why he was freaking out.

"You . . . you gave me a family," Cobra whispered. "That's not something I've ever really known. The only one to show me any kind of love has been Tink and now you. I mean I know you have a family, a large one, I just . . . I just never realized they'd be mine now too." Kenzo kissed Cobra softly on the lips, holding the man gently against him.

"My family is going to adore you, you'll fit right into our misfit group and mom will lose her everloving mind. Plus most of Sabertooth already knows you, so that'll be easy if you decide to join the guild." He laughed at Kenzo's small bout of humor. "Let's get to the plane where we can get some sleep because after I introduce you to the family I plan on locking you in my room for a few days." Cobra smiled, content on just letting Kenzo hold him a little while longer before they had to leave.

The flight to Magnolia had been a mostly quiet affair, except for the constant flirting between the newly mated pair. Lucy just smiled at the two mages, giggling when Gajeel would scoff here and there. The energy mage was just as happy as she was when it came to the two men, he just tended to try to keep it hidden. After all, he couldn't let his partner know he was excited for him, that'd just ruin his hardcore act with Kenzo. Lucy had rolled her eyes, men would be men she supposed. Makarov had arranged for a car to pick the four of them up from the airport and bring them home. Cobra and Kenzo had insisted on going to Magnolia with the two of them before heading back to face the masses there, plus it gave them some alone time where they could better acquaint themselves with one another.

It was a bittersweet moment when Lucy walked up to the steps and through the double doors. Facing everyone wasn't going to be easy, not in the slightest bit, but she knew it HAD to be done and hopefully things would get better from there.

"LUCY ANNA HEARTFILIA! You. Me. In the study, NOW!"


	6. What's Next?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello readers! Sorry I haven’t updated in forever, after the issue I had with some other authors I wasn’t sure I would write again, even though I had started back with DOTL. I was angry with everything that had happened and then I just lost faith in my abilities as a writer, so I chose not to write. Which I have missed so very much and I felt bad for letting all of you amazing people who come to read, down. However, I am going to finish this story! This chapter is much much shorter than most, but it’s just so that I can slide back into writing.
> 
> Light of the Veiled will not be re-written anytime soon though, but I do hope to one day revisit it. As previously stated I WILL NOT be using the Pradesh family in any story going forward and re-writing LOTV is going to take a lot of time since I had planned it to be a VanLu story and had them more fully infused that I did in DOTL, plus DOTL was more popular than LOTV was, for now.
> 
> After this story is finished I am going to be creating my own characters to integrate into Hiro Mashima’s Fairy Tail world. The plot and characters are already fully developed so now it just needs to be written! Stay tuned for a prelude into what's to come.

Lucy flinched as her name was yelled across the room, looking up to see the one person she hadn’t seen in several years, one whose voice sent her heart soaring and spiraling at the same time. The woman had raised her after her mother had passed away, treating her like her own family since her father had been too busy to worry about such things. Mrs.  Spetto, the short, middle-aged woman with a square-shaped face, long, dark purple hair tied in a ponytail behind her head stood glaring at Lucy with her black beady eyes. 

 

The woman had gotten older but her fashion sense hadn’t changed much over the years. She still wore the same green dress with pink-colored sleeves with golden edges, an apron tied around her waist, and a small pink scarf covering her shoulders and simple shoes. Lucy had been scolded by Mrs. Spetto several times while she was a child in the konzern but to see the woman this angry at her as an adult, well she had a new fear of the small woman.

 

Lucy quickly made her way through the crowd of mages, all of which were quietly staring at the blonde as she climbed the stairs. The ex-maid was pointing to the study at the end of the hall, face grimly looking at her as she hung her head and walked into the study. She sat in a chair and when she heard the door clicked shut she closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable yelling that was coming her way. 

 

“Lucy, are you alright?” Her head snapped up so fast she saw spots as she looked at the smiling woman’s face. “Are you?”

 

“Confused, and a bit ashamed of my behavior, but otherwise I’m fine. Hey!” Lucy yelled as something with pink feathers hit her over the head. “Is that Evergreen’s fan?” 

 

“Yes! That young woman said it would help with my frustrations and she was right. Master Makarov called me after he finally managed to pull the information on what happened from Laxus, plus a call to Master Sting.” If Laxus actually talked to his grandfather about what was going on she had screwed up more than she thought. “I can’t pretend to know everything you’re feeling, my dear, I can only empathize to a degree. However, I do know that you were brought up better than that. Why behave in such a manner?”

 

“I don’t know! It was just easy to revert to how I would act when in the courts or meeting another suitor dad was throwing my way. I just wanted to pretend something monumental didn’t affect me, so I pushed everyone away and decided that I should wallow in my misery.”

 

“And how do you feel about all of that now?”

 

“Rotten.” There wasn’t really any other word for how she was feeling now. Her feelings had piled up on one another until they had gotten to a point where she was just mush.   

 

“You do know you’re going to have to face young Mr. Dreyar, right?” Lucy sighed and nodded her head. “What do you think of him?”

 

“Laxus?” Lucy looked at Mrs. Spetto unsure of where she was going with this. “I don’t know. I honestly don’t know the man very well. I do know he's changed, a lot, since the Fantasia incident, really cares about the guild and his team, he’s a powerhouse of a mage with amazing lightning dragon slayer powers, and,” Lucy bit her lip as her cheeks turned red.

 

“You fancy the man.”

 

“Something like that.” Laxus has been the source of many solo nights at home and had made a few guest appearances in a handful of her wet dreams. The man’s nickname literally had the word ‘God’ in it, with all those rippling muscles and bad boy demeanor. He wasn’t rated Fiore’s number one mage bachelor three years running for no reason.

 

“Well, I think you and that young man need to sit down for a candid talk  after you return to Sabertooth and thank them for their help.” 

 

“Yes, Mrs. Spetto.” Lucy flinched and giggled as she was hit with Evergreen’s fan several more times. 

 

“No time like the present!” Lucy sputtered as Mrs. Spetto knocked on the door four times before opening it. Laxus stumbled through the doorway as his three friends shoved him in. Mrs. Spetto just smiled warmly and closed the door behind the two blondes, hopeful that something good would come from their forced talk. Lucy stood with her mouth slightly open, eyes wide as she stared at Laxus’ back.

 

Laxus was glaring at the door, absolutely hating his friends at that moment for forcing him to deal with this when he was perfectly happy ignoring it. He never would have thought Freed would trap him in a rune and Evergreen would turn him to stone only to have Bickslow’s babies carry him here before the seith mage possessed him enough forcefully push him through the door. No doubt the old man was behind this scheme to get him to talk to Lucy. 

 

His feelings had been hurt by her dismissal of what he had given up at that moment, hated himself for feeling weak due to those emotions. His damn dragon whining in his head wasn’t helping the least bit either. He kept his back to her because he knew the minute he saw those big brown eyes full of pity he’d die a bit on the inside. Laxus was a proud man, a bit arrogant, could hand any mage their ass but dealing with the petite blonde woman with amazing curves . . . he didn’t have a fucking clue. He’d never ever had a girlfriend in his life, didn’t like the idea of being tied down and here he had done just that. Saddled himself with the most unlikely and beautiful woman in Fiore. 

 

“Laxus.” Her voice wavered a bit which struck the large man as odd, turning he looked at the woman before him. His eyes widened when he saw the tears in her brown orbs, shame and regret filled them. “I know there aren’t enough ‘I’m sorry’s’ in the world to ever have you forgive me for being an complete and utter brat over everything. You saved me, gave me another chance to live with my family, and I just sunk into my own pity party.”

 

“Blondie.”

 

“I know what you’ve sacrificed in order to save me and I want you to know I do truly appreciate everything that you have done for me. I also honestly have no idea what we do from here.”

 

“I get it. I pushed you away just as much as you pushed me away. We’re both at fault for being idiots. You were right when you said your choice was taken from you but in all honesty . . . Fairy Tail isn’t a guild without its Light.” He watched as Lucy choked back a sob and held her face in her hands. “I don’t know what we do either but I do have an idea.” Her red eyes peeked over the tops of her fingers as she watched him. “How about we hang out in the guild for a bit every day, get to know one another.”

 

“Take it a day at a time.” Laxus nodded his head and opened his arms. Lucy bit her lip, hesitant, but ultimately decided that a hug right now would be good. His large frame completely encompassed her and she let out a breath she had been keeping him since he walked into the room. “I truly am sorry, Laxus.”

 

“Same here, Blondie.”

 

“So I ah . . . need to go tot Sabertooth and apologize to Sting and the rest of the crew too. They helped me out a lot while I was avoiding you, Bickslow too.”

 

“All's forgiven, Cosplayer!” Laxus growled as he glared at the door while Lucy let out a watery laugh.

 

“I’m sure the whole guild is listening to us, Laxus.”

 

“Not the whole guild, Luce! Just your two teams, the dragon slayers, and Gramps.” Lucy laughed when Natsu shouted, someone obviously was trying to shut the pinkette up. “Who are you taking with you to Sabertooth?” Laxus groaned and Lucy outright laughed.

 

“Well, I have two stragglers who need to get back home and I figured that maybe Team Natsu would be up for the trek to see our friends.” Natsu and Happy cheering drowned out all other noises. Lucy stepped back from Laxus a small smile on her lips. “I’ll see you in a week or so?”

 

“It’s a date, Blondie.”


	7. Small Reprieves

Lucy sighed for the umpteenth time that morning. She was sure her team had noticed by now but she really didn't give a rip. It had been a month since she'd come back to Fairy Tail and had been trying to get to know Laxus better but it seemed as if the Universe was working against them. If she wasn't on a mission with her team then Laxus was gone with his team and is she wasn't helping Levy decode some ancient language then Laxus was working with Gramps in learning how to run the guild, which involved a hell of a lot of paperwork. Laxus was a grumpy ass hole after a full day in the office with Master, so it was best to avoid him until he had his third beer.

She had informed Master Makarov and Master Sting, she still found it weird to call the exuberant dragon slayer Master, all that she had heard when she had rescued the twins. Rufus was researching things on his end, Freed was doing the same when he had time, and Lucy had Crux combing through any and all texts about this new threat. He was also looking into a more in-depth reason as to why a dark guild would even want or need light children, you know, outside the whole world domination cliche.

The dark guild hadn't tried anything, yet, but everyone was on their toes. Natsu had been itching for a fight since he'd missed out three times now; the original attack on Sabertooth, Lucy rescuing the twins, and the attack on Sabertooth when she brought them home. He'd been so antsy lately that he was starting to grate on even Happy's nerves, which was saying a lot. Team Natsu was taking turns sleeping on her couch as a precaution, which was also driving Lucy up the wall. She loved her team but she could use a little less of them right now.

Cobra and Kenzo were fully mated now and were heading to Fairy Tail to see the blonde woman who had inadvertently got them together. Lucy had apologized to everyone at Sabertooth, Bickslow, Gajeel, Cana, and Juvia for her less than stellar behavior. Cana and Juvia had given her the most grief over it and had her doing small tasks to be back in their "good graces," as Cana put it. For Cana, it was being a wing woman and letting her rifle through her extensive underwear collection, while Juvia was content with having Lucy pick up her groceries and help her out on a house cleaning mission. All-in-all it wasn't anything serious and they did a whole lot of talking during their time together.

"Hey Luce, hurry up! We're almost back to the Guildhall. Man, I hope that Mira has some fire chicken because I'm starving!" The team laughed, trust Natsu to be consumed with food first when they were close to home. Some things would never change and that small consistency had Lucy smiling brightly.

"Yo, Blondie," Laxus called upon the team entering the guild doors. "Got a minute?" Lucy nodded her head and told her team she'd be back in a bit. Laxus was standing with his arms crossed looking across the room from the second-floor balcony a tight look on his face. He was stressed about something. Now she may not have a lot of time to know Laxus up close in person but she had been observing the stoic dragon slayer when she could over the last month and had an idea about his non-verbal cues.

"What's wrong, Laxus?" Lucy quietly asked, hoping to avoid the other dragon slayer's hearing her question.

"What makes you think anything is wrong?" Laxus went from looking at her to glancing back at their guildmates. When he finally did look back at her she had one eyebrow raised and her own arms crossed over her chest. He sighed, before nodding his head into his office, closing the door behind the two of them. "I've been given a report from one of the magic council members saying there is a disturbance in Hargeon. Something in the water that's causing some major flooding. Normally I would just send you and Juvia to handle this but since we don't know what the dark guild's plan is I don't want just the two of you going."

"I don't care who else goes with Juvia and me, as long as it's not Team Natsu! I love them all dearly but being with them day in and day out for a month has me wanting to blow shit up!" Laxus briefly smiled at Lucy's plea.

"What will I get if I assign a couple of other mages to your mission?" Laxus smirked as Lucy looked him up and down with a skeptical gaze.

"What do you want," she slowly asked the tall blonde.

"I want a kiss, on the lips, when you return from the mission." Laxus had put a bit of thought into this. They hadn't even been able to go on their first damn date let alone try to make their . . . relationship work. His dragon wasn't exactly helping his situation out either, constantly picturing her naked in the shower with him, him fucking her in his large bed, her pink lips wrapped around his . . . NOPE! He wasn't going down that rabbit hole right now, not with her standing right in front of him.

"A kiss? On the lips?" Lucy whispered as she blushed. She knew Laxus wasn't one to mince words but that was a little blunt for her. Her gazed landed on his mouth for a second too long, finding a shit-eating grin was slowly making it's way across his lips. She gulped, realizing she'd been caught staring. "Ok. I can work with that."

"You'll leave in the morning with Juvia, Bickslow, and Gajeel. Cobra has also demanded he be allowed on this trip with you, which means his mate would be going too. I told them the two of them tagging along was up to you." Lucy giggled and wrapped her arms around Laxus for all of three seconds before she was bouncing out the door. If Cobra wanted to come with her then that must mean he was in the building somewhere. Laxus just chuckled and went back to his paperwork.

"For fuck's sake, Tink. You're like a fucking beacon right now. Turn off the damn rainbows and sunshine shit you have on strobe light!" Lucy spun around and ran to the crass man, who took a stance so that he could catch the crazy ass woman as she launched herself into his arms for a hug. Normally Cobra was against people in his awesome bubble but Lucy was different.

"When did you guys get here? Hey, Kenzo? How's our favorite prickly slayer treating his new mate?" "HEY!" Lucy and Kenzo laughed at Cobra's indignant shout.

"He's treating me just fine, Lucy. Fucks my brains out like a champ at least once a day," he smirked as Lucy's cheeks held a small tinge of red to them but she laughed anyway.

"Pft, you're just jealous that since we are out of seclusion it's not more than once a day." Kenzo smiled and kissed his mate on the cheek, to placate the fact that he was being teased when usually it was Cobra doing the teasing.

"Thank you for accompanying me on the mission tomorrow with Bickslow, Gajeel, and Juvia. I really appreciate your help."

"Bluebird, Iron Dick, and Crazy Eyes are joining us, eh? It's been a while since the seith mage and I had a decent conversation," there was an odd glint in his eyes as he talked about Bickslow.

"What's with the look, hun?"

"Later babe, later. Tell me Tink, is Bickslow dating anyone right now?" He watched as Lucy hummed in thought before shaking her head no which made Cobra look like he had just walked into his favorite poison shop.

"Babe, you're making us nervous," Kenzo took a step away from his mate. After being around his dragon slayer mate for the past month he was well acquainted with this look, the one that said he was about to cash in on a bet or debt.

"Stop being a bunch of pansy asses. I assure you, it's nothing remotely bad for anyone except Crazy Eyes."

"I'll leave you two to . . . do whatever you need to before we head out in the morning. I'm going to tell Gajeel and Juvia." Lucy made her escape before she could get pulled into one of Cobra's evil schemes. That was one man you never wanted to be on the opposing team when it came to pranks or evil plots. You might get turned into a giant metal fish.

"Fuck! Seriously Tink! I already said I was sorry!" Lucy laughed so hard that tears formed in the corner of her eye. That memory was one of her favorites to pull out at times like this when he was being more of an ass hole than usual.

"Hey, Gajeel!" Lucy waved to the man who was sitting on a bench at the gym with a towel hanging around his neck.

"Small fry. What are you doing here?"

"Laxus is sending me on a mission to Hargeon tomorrow and was hoping you'd join the team with Bickslow, Juvia, Cobra, and Kenzo."

"Yea, sure. What are we doing in Hargeon?"

"An issue with constant floods. Normally Laxus would just Juvia and I, but you know . . ."

"You constantly have a giant target on your back that says 'kidnap me.' You'd think by now that dark guilds would learn that kidnapping you means Fairy Tail is coming to kick their asses." Lucy couldn't help but giggle, he definitely wasn't wrong. "What time are we leaving?"

"Train leaves at eight am."

"Alright, I'll see you in the morning." Lucy was heading out of the weight room when something caught her eye in one of the other gyms. She took a couple of steps back and peeked through the window in the door. Bickslow was moving ridiculously fast on a set of suspended wood platforms that Laki had built and Freed spelled so they would stay floating. It was to help with his acrobatics training, but what shocked her was the fact that Juvia was standing on the floor firing balls of water at him. He was dodging fairly well until she picked up the pace, launching more than one ball at him. Bickslow caught one right in the chest that had him plummeting to the ground, thankfully his totems were there to catch him. Lucy smirked at how concerned her friend was over hitting the man. A small smile made it's way to her lips, maybe she needed to plant a bug in Mira's ear?

"Hey, you two," Lucy called out as she entered the second gym. "Hope I didn't catch you at a bad time."

"Juvia was just helping Bickslow with some training. Did Lucy need something from Juvia?"

"Actually, I am here for both of you. You and I have a mission in Hargeon. The town is being hit by constant flooding and has asked for our help. Laxus has asked Bickslow and Gajeel to join you and me."

"Juvia would love to go on the mission!"

"Kenzo and Cobra will be joining us as well, forgot to mention that." Lucy watched as all the color in Bickslow face drained when she mentioned the pair. This was an interesting development, to say the least. "You okay with that, Bix?"

"Huh? Oh yeah. Won't be a problem Cosplayer."

"Good! Train leaves at eight am, so I'll see you both in the morning!" Lucy left the gym to go and tell her team she'd be gone for a while and braced herself for the fact that they'd all want to have a sleepover at her house tonight. She was going to have to get groceries on her way home.

"Is everything alright, Bickslow? Juvia has been calling Bickslow's name for the last minute. Juvia didn't hit you too hard?"

"NO! I am great, Juves. Just realized I'm going to have to go home early now to pack shit for tomorrow."

"Ok. Well, Juvia had a fun time today. Perhaps . . . Bickslow will allow Juvia to help with training, again?"

"Definitely!" She smiled down at him since he was still sitting on the ground, then said goodbye as he watched her leave. "Ugh!" He threw himself back so that he was lying on his back. "I am so fucking screwed!"

"Daddy forgot about the bet?" Pipi asked in her cute little voice.

"No, but I had hoped I wouldn't see the one-eyed bastard so soon."

"Soon?" Papa laughed at the man. "You made that bet over six months ago." Bickslow and Gajeel had been Master's errand boys when it came to delivering information to and from Crime Sorciere. On one such run, it had stormed so he was invited to stay the night, drinks had been passed around, and before he knew it he was spilling his guts out to Cobra who happened to be the last one awake. Bickslow might have been drunk but he sure as hell wasn't black-out drunk. He remembered the bet that Cobra had issued and him being the oh so wise drunk fool, accepted.

"Man up!" Popo said, which ended up being chanted by all five of his spirits.

"Knock it off! I have to make a plan now since I only have a couple of days to fulfill his damn bet." Bickslow picked himself off the floor and proceeded to head home. He had to formulate some kind of plan in order to meet his end of the bet because there was no way in hell he was doing what Cobra wanted if he won.

* * *

The darkness consumed all light as the sound of heels in concrete filled the tense air. They had already failed at capturing the twin children of Sabertooth, who were now heavily guarded with its guild members on high alert. Trying to go after them again would be an utter waste of time. She was surrounded by incompetent idiots. How hard was it to keep two young children in their care and away from all the light, goodness, bull-shit?

Apparently too much for her weaker followers to handle!

Their dark guild had been around for ages, feeding off the chaos that others brought into the world. She was the first woman to be in the top ranks, ignorant bastards. A pissed off woman could do so much more than any man, even when properly motivated. She'd been planning this for months, MONTHS, and because those chauvinistic bastards couldn't follow her plans they botched the entire mission. She wanted them to wait two more weeks, just fourteen days, and her plan would have been full proof.

That exploded in their damn faces.

Now she was back to square one but still had to fit within the Elder's timeline of three months. She had three months to construct and execute another nearly flawless plan and this time it was going to work, or may the light burn them all.

"Mistress? You . . . umm, you have blood all over your robes. Would you like me to lay something else out for you while you bathe?" A mousy looking woman asked, head slightly bowed.

"Yes. I expect these robes to be gone, room cleaned, and you not here when I leave the washroom."

"Of course, Mistress," she all but squeaked out. She stripped naked in front of the small girl before heading to her private hot tub, smirking. The ones who defied her orders to keep to her timeline wouldn't be an issue anymore. The ones who had spoken out about her punishment wouldn't dare to do so again.

"Cera, have a new intel list brought to me by my evening meal as well." Cera bowed, not saying anything as she went about doing her Mistress' bidding, as the woman with pure black, waist-length hair settle into the warm waters. Now she had time to strategize, time to figure out how they would plunge the world into complete darkness. It was just a matter of where to start.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks RogueNyte22 for being beta throughout this entire story


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